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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



A, 7 

211 



€^e dSatetna? Series 

OF ENGLISH TEXTS 
GENERAL EDITOR 

HENRY VAN DYKE 



THE GATEWAY SERIES. 

HENRY VAN DYKE, General Editor. 

Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Professor Felix E. 

Schelling, University of Pennsylvania. 
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Dr. Hamilton W. Mabie, 

" The Outlook." 
Shakespeare's Macbeth. Professor T. M. Parrott, Prince- 
ton University. 
Milton's Minor Poems. Professor Mary A. Jordan, Smith 

College. 
Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. Professor 

C. T. Winchester, Wesleyan University. 
Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. Professor James A. 

Tufts, Phillips Exeter Academy. 
Burke's Speech on Conciliation. Professor William 

MacDonald, Brown University. 
Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner. Professor George 

E. Woodberry, Columbia University. 
Scott's Ivanhoe. Professor Francis H. Stoddard, New 

York University. 
Scott's Lady of the Lake. Professor R. M. Alden, Leland 

Stanford Jr. University. 
Irving's Life of Goldsmith. Professor Martin Wright 

Sampson, Indiana University. 
Macaulay's Milton. Rev. E. L. Gulick, Lawrenceville 

School. 
Macaulay's Addison. Professor Charles F. McClumpha, 

University of Minnesota. 
Macaulay's Life of Johnson. Professor J. S. Clark, North- 
western University. 
Carlyle'S Essay on Burns. Professor Edwin Mims, Trin- 
ity College, North Carolina. 
George Eliot's Silas Marner. Professor W. L. Cross, 

Yale University. 
Tennyson's Princess. Professor Katharine Lee Bates, 

Wellesley College. 
Tennyson's Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot and 

Elaine, and The Passing of Arthur. Henry van 

Dyke. 





1$W. ^htfsFsfi 






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GATEWAY SERIES 



MACBETH 



EDITED BY 
THOMAS MARC PARROTT, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 



ft ■•:. 




NEW" YORK •:• CINCINNATI :• CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



LIBRARY of C0N6RESS 
Two Goolps Received 
JUL 16 1904 
Copyright Entry ' 

CLASS fc- XXe. Na 

ttir f? £ L 

COPY B 









Copyright, 1904, by 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. 



MACBETH. 

W. P. 1 



PREFACE BY THE GENERAL 
EDITOR 

This series of books aims, first, to give the English 
texts required for entrance to college in* a form which 
shall make them clear, interesting, and helpful to those 
who are beginning the study of literature ; and, second, 
to supply the knowledge which the student needs to 
pass the entrance examination. For these two reasons 
it is called The Gateway Series. 

The poems, plays, essays, and stories in these small 
volumes are treated, first of all, as works of literature, 
which were written to be read and enjoyed, not to be 
parsed and scanned and pulled to pieces. A short life 
of the author is given, and a portrait, in order to help 
the student to know the real person who wrote the 
book. The introduction tells what it is about, and 
how it was written, and where the author got the idea, 
and what it means. The notes at the foot of the page 
are simply to give the sense of the hard words so that 
the student can read straight on without turning to a 
dictionary. The other notes, at the end of the book, 
explain difficulties and allusions and fine points, 

5 



6 Preface by the General Editor 

The editors are chosen because of their thorough 
training and special fitness to deal with the books 
committed to them, and because they agree with this 
idea of what a Gateway Series ought to be. They 
express, in each case, their own views of the books 
which they edit. Simplicity, thoroughness, shortness, 
and clearness, — these, we hope, will be the marks of 
the series. 

HENRY VAN DYKE. 



PREFACE 

It has been my aim in preparing this edition of 
Macbeth to bring one of the greatest creations of Eng- 
lish literature within the comprehension of the average 
school-boy. The biography and introduction have been 
composed with the hope of awakening in the young 
student some interest in Shakespeare's life and work, 
and of thus inducing him to approach the play, not 
as a piece of task work, but in a spirit of intellectual 
curiosity. 

The text itself has been carefully prepared with a 
view to reproducing as far as possible the exact words 
which Shakespeare wrote. One passage alone I have 
felt called upon to excise, and that has been lifted 
cleanly out of the play without garbling the context. 

The glossarial notes, based for the most part upon 
Schmidt's Shakespeare Dictionary and the New English 
Dictionary, have been placed at the bottom of the page 
in order to save the student's time and distract his 
attention as little as possible from the real subject of 
study, the play itself. 

The critical and explanatory notes have a twofold 
purpose. They are meant to explain in the simplest 
terms possible the difficulties in the text itself and the 
allusions and references which stand in the way of an 
intelligent appreciation of the play. And they are also 

7 



8 Preface 

meant to interpret in the simplest fashion the play as 
a piece of dramatic art, to show the relation of one 
scene to another, and the place of each in the scheme 
of the whole. I trust that these notes are not over- 
copious ; their bulk is due to my conviction that the 
average school-boy is at once incapable of understand- 
ing Shakespeare by the light of nature, and that he is 
in practice wholly dependent for aid upon the text-book 
which is put into his hands. 

The textual notes are an attempt to justify the text 
here presented. They may, perhaps, serve also in the 
case of students advanced above the average as an 
introduction to the study of textual criticism. 

The brief note on metre is intended to give the 
student such elementary knowledge of this subject as 
is usually required for entrance into college. 

In the preparation of this book I have drawn upon 
many sources, particularly upon Dr. Furness's Variorum 
edition. I have been particularly fortunate in being 
able to check and correct my work by reference to Dr. 
LiddelPs scholarly and stimulating commentary in the 
Elizabethan Macbeth. 

In conclusion I wish to thank, not for the first time, 
Mr. D. L. Chambers and my colleague, Mr. Long, for 
illuminating suggestion, severe and kindly criticism, 
and valued assistance in the matter of proof reading. 

THOMAS MARC PARROTT. 
Princeton University. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Biography . .11 

Introduction . . . . , , . . .30 

Macbeth 51 

Notes : 

Critical and Explanatory . . . . . ,167 

Textual Notes 245 

A Note on Metre 264 



BIOGRAPHY 

It has sometimes been said that we know next to 
nothing about Shakespeare the man ; but this statement 
is far from accurate. We know a great deal about the 
world he lived in and the influences which shaped and 
coloured his work ; we know as many facts about his life 
as about that of almost any poet of his day ; and from 
his plays we may learn far more than is usually admitted 
about his character and temperament. It is a mistaken 
reverence which loses itself in admiration of the work of 
the poet and forgets the very human man who lies behind 
this work. 

William Shakespeare was born probably on April 22 
or 23, 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was at this 
time a prosperous citizen in the little town of Stratford- 
on-Avon. Some twelve years before the poet's birth, 
John Shakespeare had come into town and opened a sort 
of general store for the sale of country produce. He 
rapidly rose into prominence, filled one office after an- 
other, and, four years after William's birth, was elected 
to the highest position in the town, that of bailiff. During 
his year of office he twice extended the hospitalities of 
the town to travelling actors, and it is most likely that 
William Shakespeare got his first impressions of the drama 

11 



12 Biography 

as a boy upon his father's knees in the town hall of Strat- 
ford. The poet's mother, Mary Arden, was connected 
with one of the most prominent families in the county 
and was, moreover, better provided with the world's 
goods than her husband. 

At the age of seven or eight William Shakespeare 
entered the grammar school of Stratford. His studies, 
which were probably continued for at least five or six 
years, were, after the fashion of the day, almost entirely 
confined to Latin. He committed the grammar to mem- 
ory, learned to repeat easy conversations in Latin, and 
read selections from such authors as Virgil, Horace, 
Cicero, and Seneca. His favourite poet seems to have 
been Ovid. Probably he also obtained at school some 
little knowledge of Greek, enough at least to read the 
standard authors in the popular editions which printed 
the Greek text on one page and a Latin translation on the 
other. Ben Jonson's remark that Shakespeare had " small 
Latin and less Greek " has sometimes been accepted as 
showing that the poet's education was very superficial ; 
but it must be remembered that Jonson was one of the 
best classical scholars of his time, and judged Shakespeare 
by his own standard. There can be no doubt that as far 
as a reading knowledge of the classics goes, Shakespeare 
was at least on a level with the average graduate of an 
American college. 

Very little, if any, instruction in mathematics was given 
in English schools in Shakespeare's day, and there was 
no opportunity whatever for studying either his native 



Biography 13 

tongue, or the modern languages. Shakespeare's knowl- 
edge of the Bible was obtained at home and in the town 
church, and his acquaintance with French and Italian, 
such as it was, he probably acquired during his later life 
in London. 

Shakespeare cannot have done much reading in his 
youth, — his father's house contained at most a Bible, a 
chronicle, and, perhaps, some old romance, and there 
was no free library in Stratford in those days, — but 
he had all the more time for boyish games, for the 
legends of ghosts and fairies which served to pass the 
long winter evenings, and above all for the sights and 
sounds of the beautiful English country which lay about 
him. Stratford was a very tiny town, and a few steps 
from the main street would take the boy into some 
of the loveliest scenery in England. Warwickshire was 
wilder then than now, and the forest of Arden covered 
a great part of the county. To Shakespeare, with his be- 
lief in witchcraft and wood-spirits, rambles in its shades 
must have seemed like voyages in fairyland ; and we may 
be sure that when in after years he wrote of the haunted 
wood outside of Athens, or the great forest in France 
where the banished Duke and his companions chased the 
deer, he was dreaming of his own English Arden. 

But we may be sure, too, that Shakespeare was no 
mere dreamy boy. He had eyes and ears for all that he 
saw or heard. He knew all the flowers of the field, and 
all the notes of the birds. But perhaps the best proof 
of Shakespeare's genuine boyishness was his devotion to 



14 Biography 

sports. He loved dogs, hawks, and horses, and knew all 
their good points ; and his love of hunting seems at one 
time to have involved him in serious trouble. 

During Shakespeare's school days his father became 
entangled in business difficulties and was forced to mort- 
gage the property he had received from his wife. It was 
probably on this account that he withdrew his son from 
school at an early age, and set him to work, perhaps in 
his own shop in Stratford. 

Some five or six years after leaving school, Shake- 
speare, then a lad of eighteen, suddenly and perhaps 
secretly, married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years 
his senior. His first child, Susanna, was born within a 
year. In January, 1585, his wife gave birth to twins, 
Hamnet and Judith, and shortly after Shakespeare left 
Stratford and his wife never to return, except for an occa- 
sional visit, until the main work of his life was over. Va- 
rious causes, no doubt, contributed to his departure from 
Stratford, — his father's poverty, his own increasing fam- 
ily, the impossibility of finding suitable employment in 
the little town, but probably the immediate occasion of 
his flight was the trouble in which his love of sport had 
involved him. 

The most important personage in or about Stratford 
at this time was a certain Sir Thomas Lucy, a country 
squire of wide acres and strict principles. He owned a 
rabbit warren on which Shakespeare made frequent raids. 
He was at last detected and the great man's anger was 
so fierce that Shakespeare sought safety in flight. 



Biography 17 

The same tendency to expansion and assimilation 
appeared in the intellectual and artistic life of the 
nation. The great outburst of literature which marks 
the beginning of the second half of Elizabeth's reign, 
was by no means a mere development of the literature 
of the Middle Ages. On the contrary it was based upon 
the New Learning, the passionate study of the classics 
which for the last half century had been dominating 
the schools and universities of England ; and it was 
coloured by contact at many points with the rich and 
varied literature of Italy. The intellectual eagerness of 
the nation to learn is proved by the multitude of transla- 
tions which opened even to those who were ignorant of 
all languages but their own, the treasures of the classics 
and of foreign literatures. But there was little or no 
slavish imitation ; what the English borrowed they assimi- 
lated, and reproduced in a thoroughly English form ; and 
this was particularly the case with the drama, the most 
characteristic form of Elizabethan art. 

For centuries dramatic performances had been a 
popular form of amusement in England. But the old 
mediaeval drama was a very crude affair. It took its 
subjects mainly from the stories of the Bible and pre- 
sented them in the simplest fashion. There were neither 
theatres nor professional actors ; the plays were presented 
upon movable stages by amateur performers chosen from 
the various trade guilds. About the middle of the six- 
teenth century, however, the influence of the classical 
dramatists began to be felt, and English plays were 

MACBETH — 2 



1 8 Biography 

written in direct imitation of Plautus and Seneca. But 
the effort to enforce the strict rules of the classic drama 
had broken down even before Shakespeare came to Lon- 
don. The new spirit of patriotism had given birth to a 
new form of dramatic art, the history or chronicle play, 
which appealed to the interest felt by English audiences 
in their country's glorious past. And a new school of 
playwrights, Lyly, Greene, Peele, Kyd, and Marlowe, — 
men for the most part of classical education, but forced 
by the circumstances of their lives to rely directly upon 
the applause of the public, — were, during the early years 
of Shakespeare's life in London, creating a new drama as 
different from the conventional regularity of the classic 
as from the formlessness of the mediaeval stage. The 
new drama was, in fact, a blending of classical and roman- 
tic elements, choosing its themes at will from classical 
mythology and history, from English history and tradition, 
or from the passionate stories of love, hatred, and revenge 
so common in the Renaissance literature of Italy and 
France. It was for the most part composed in verse, 
and appealed by its stately rhetoric and its lyric charm 
to the Elizabethan passion for high-sounding phrases and 
beautiful words. At the same time, in order to hold the 
attention of the common people, it crowded its scenes 
with action ; battle, murder, and sudden death were the 
commonest of incidents. And the indomitable good 
humour of the age was seen in the constant presence of 
the clown, whose coarse jests and boisterous horse-play 
cast a gleam of mirth over even the gloomiest of tragedies. 



Biography 19 

While the drama was thus developing toward the point 
where Shakespeare found it, the instruments for the inter- 
pretation of the drama were also in process of evolution. 
Professional actors had come into existence perhaps . a 
century before Shakespeare's birth ; but they were long 
regarded with scorn by the staid civic authorities. The 
law indeed ranked them with strollers and " lusty vaga- 
bonds." But the pleasure-loving aristocracy took up 
their cause and invited them to enrol themselves in com- 
panies under the patronage of some noblemen. These 
licensed companies, as they were called, enjoyed a degree 
of respect which their humbler fellows lacked, and were 
permitted to give performances about the country, in the 
suburbs of London, and even in the city itself. They 
were composed wholly of men and boys ; no women be- 
longed to professional companies till after the Restoration. 

There were as yet no theatres and for a long time after 
the formation of these companies, they were obliged to 
play in the courtyards of inns, in the halls of gentlemen's 
houses, or on booths erected at town or county fairs. 
For a private performance they received a fee from the 
person who had requested their services ; after a public 
performance they passed around the hat. In 1576, how- 
ever, while Shakespeare was still a boy at Stratford, James 
Burbage, the father of Shakespeare's friend, hit on the 
happy thought of erecting a building for theatrical per- 
formances by professional actors and of charging a fixed 
price for admission. The city authorities refused to allow 
such a place within the walls of London, so Burbage built 



20 Biography 

" The Theatre " in one of the suburbs just outside the 
town limits. It was soon followed by the " Curtain " and 
the " Rose," and just as the century was closing, the 
Burbages pulled down " The Theatre " and with its mate- 
rials erected the most famous of all Elizabethan play- 
houses, the " Globe." Before Shakespeare's death there 
were probably ten or twelve theatres in and about the 
city. 

These theatres were, of course, very simple affairs. 
They were for the most part mere sheds, open to the 
sky, except for a scaffolding over the stage, and some- 
times over the boxes in which the better class of the 
audience were seated. Performances were always given 
in the afternoon, so that there was no need of the elabo- 
rate devices for the illumination of the stage to which we 
are accustomed. Scenery was practically unknown, and 
stage machinery was of the very simplest sort. The stage 
itself projected forward into the body of the house so 
that the actors could be seen from three sides. At the 
rear of the stage there was a recess, before which hung a 
curtain and over which there projected a balcony. These 
places served to diversify the action, since they could be 
used to indicate a change of scene in the play. The 
recess, for instance, might stand for a royal throne, a 
lady's bed-chamber, or a magician's study. The balcony 
might be anything from the deck of a vessel to the walls 
of a city. There was naturally no attempt at realistic 
stage-setting ; the place of the action was sometimes 
indicated by a placard hung out to announce that the 



Biography 21 

scene was laid in Rome, or Athens, or England. It is 
evident that performances upon such a stage had to rely 
largely on the imagination of the audience, but the 
Elizabethan audience was ready of response, and the 
beautiful descriptive passages in Shakespeare's plays 
show that he knew that the people for whom he wrote 
would meet him halfway. 

It was into this busy, eager, pleasure-loving world that 
Shakespeare plunged when he joined Lord Leicester's 
company. In a very short time he had become one of 
the busiest men in London. He had, in the first place, 
his work as an actor, and since there were no long runs in 
those days, his time must have been fairly well filled with 
rehearsals and performances alone. His experience as 
an actor gave him invaluable insight into the methods 
of dramatic composition and before long his skill as a 
dramatist began to manifest itself. At first he attempted 
nothing more than the revision of old plays. There was 
no law of copyright in those days. When a playwright 
finished his drama, he sold it for cash to one of the com- 
panies and it became their absolute property. They 
might use it as they pleased, perform it as it came from 
the author, add various striking scenes and characters to 
it, or have it written over to suit their taste. It seems 
certain that in his first historical plays, the three parts of 
King Henry VI, Shakespeare was in the main revising 
and strengthening the work of older writers. But it was 
not long before he attempted original composition ; and 
after he had once begun, he worked steadily for nearly 



22 Biography 

twenty years, turning out on an average two plays a 
year. His first editors declared that there was hardly 
a blot or correction in his manuscripts, and on the 
strength of this statement it has been believed that 
Shakespeare was one of the great unconscious artists 
who do their work without knowing how or why they 
do it. But there seems to be good evidence that Shake- 
speare worked hard over his plays, that he revised and 
corrected, and, in some cases, practically rewrote them 
before he was satisfied. His dramatic genius, the greatest 
the world has ever known, did not spring full-grown into 
life, but was developed and perfected by long years of 
strenuous effort. 

Shakespeare's first unqualified success as a man of let- 
ters was attained by the publication of his poems Venus 
and Adonis, 1593, and The Rape of Lucrece, 1594. Critics 
who looked down with scorn upon the productions of the 
common stage welcomed these poems with rapturous ap- 
plause ; and the reading public bought them up as fast as 
they could be issued from the press. Only two of his 
plays, Richard III and the first part of King Henry IV, 
if we may judge by the frequency of contemporary pub- 
lication, enjoyed anything like a corresponding popularity. 

The most noteworthy contemporary testimony to Shake- 
speare's reputation as a dramatist is that of Francis Meres, 
a scholar and clergyman, who published, in 1598, a work 
entitled Palladis Tamia, or The Treasury of Wit. In a 
very complete review of contemporary literature Meres 
declared that Shakespeare excelled all others in both 



Biography 23 

comedy and tragedy, and he cited twelve plays to jus- 
tify his assertion. 

Less than half of these plays had been published when 
Meres wrote. The actors who held the copyright be- 
lieved that the publication of a play would lessen its 
drawing power as a stage performance. But as Shake- 
speare's reputation increased, the reading public became 
so eager to obtain his works that unscrupulous publishers 
resorted to all sorts of devices to satisfy the demand. 
They sent shorthand writers to the theatre to take notes, 
they bought parts of plays from needy actors, and some- 
times they even persuaded the company to part with a 
copy of the manuscript. In 1600 there were published 
no less than six separate plays by Shakespeare. A fur- 
ther testimony to his popularity is borne by the fact that 
the piratical publishers of the time took to printing other 
men's plays with his name, or at least his initials, upon 
the title-page. Seven of such publications appeared dur- 
ing Shakespeare's lifetime. 

Shakespeare's reputation as an actor and playwright 
soon spread from the public theatre to the court of Queen 
Elizabeth. Probably some of the young noblemen of her 
intimate circle carried a report of his genius to her. As 
early as 1594 he was summoned along with Burbage, the 
tragedian, and Kemp, the famous comic actor, to play 
before her at Greenwich. His early comedy, Love's 
Labour's Lost, was rewritten and presented at court by 
special request in the Christmas holidays of 1597. The 
Queen, with her strong masculine sense of humour, took 



24 Biography 

a special delight in the character of Falstaff, and a plaus- 
ible tradition relates that she ordered Shakespeare to write 
a play which should exhibit the fat knight as a lover, and 
thus inspired the Merry Wives of Windsor. 

King James showed himself an even more gracious 
patron of Shakespeare and his friends. Almost immedi- 
ately after his accession he took the company under his 
special protection, granting them a license to perform, not 
only in the Globe Theatre, but also in the town hall of 
any town in England. Throughout the reign of James, 
Shakespeare's company bore the enviable title of the 
" King's Servants." Even before the new king entered 
the capital the company was requested to play before 
him ; and on his public entry into London, Shakespeare 
and eight of his fellows walked ' in the royal procession 
robed in scarlet cloaks bestowed upon them by the royal 
bounty. Throughout his reign James remained a gener- 
ous benefactor of his " Servants." By his special request 
many of Shakespeare's plays were performed at court, and 
for these performances the players were always hand- 
somely rewarded. The Tempest, perhaps the last play 
that Shakespeare wrote, was given at the festivities 
attending the marriage of James's daughter to the Prince 
Palatine. 

It is well known that Shakespeare made his fortune in 
London. It is not, perhaps, a matter of general acquaint- 
ance that he devoted this fortune to regaining for himself 
and his family the social position in Stratford which his 
father's bankruptcy and, perhaps, his own wild youth 



Biography 25 

had forfeited. By 1596 Shakespeare had made money 
enough to lift his father from the slough of debts in 
which he had for years been struggling. In the same 
year, John Shakespeare, no doubt, at the suggestion of 
his son, applied to the College of Heralds, in London, 
for a coat of arms, the outward and visible sign of the 
possessor's rank as a gentleman. 

Even before the coat of arms was granted to his father, 
Shakespeare had given evidence of his ability as well as 
his desire to re-establish himself in Stratford as a substan- 
tial citizen. In 1597 he bought the largest dwelling 
in Stratford, — New Place, — the "great house" erected 
by Sir Hugh Clopton a hundred years before. It had 
long since fallen into a ruinous condition, so that the sum 
which Shakespeare paid for it, equivalent to about $2500, 
probably represented but a small part of his outlay upon 
the property. 

On his father's death, in 1601, Shakespeare inherited 
the double house on Henley Street, now shown to visitors 
as the " Birthplace " ; in the following year he bought a 
large farm of 107 acres near Stratford ; and in the same 
year he acquired a cottage and garden facing the grounds 
of New Place. In 1605 he invested a sum equal to be- 
tween $15,000 and $20,000 in purchasing a share in the 
tithes of Stratford, an investment which not only paid 
him a handsome profit, but established his position as one 
of the moneyed men of the town. It is said, indeed, 
that after his retiring from the stage he spent about 
$8000 a year on his Stratford house and estate. 



16 Biography 

Shakespeare's income was derived in part from his 
plays, in part from his profession as an actor. To these 
sources must be added for the years between 1599 and 
161 1 or 161 2 his shares in the Globe and Blackfriars 
theatres. All in all, it is hardly an exaggeration to say 
that Shakespeare's income in the latter years of his life 
approximated the sum of $25,000 a year. There is a 
certain satisfaction in knowing that the greatest of Eng- 
lish poets, the poet who, as actor and playwright, appealed 
most directly to the English people, received his due 
reward of wealth, as well as of fame. 

Shakespeare's life in London was, however, by no means 
wholly given over to work. His sympathetic and sen- 
sitive temperament craved the companionship of friends 
and his gentleness and charm of manner soon won the 
hearts of men and held them to him in lasting bonds. 
There is no trace of Shakespeare's having been involved in 
the bitter quarrels which raged in the theatrical world of 
his day. On the contrary his closest friends were those 
of his own calling, actors like Burbage, Heming, and 
Condell, poets and playwrights like Drayton and Ben 
Jonson. Jonson, indeed, allowed himself the freedom 
of criticizing Shakespeare's methods of work, but he said : 
" I loved the man, and do honour his memory on this 
side idolatry as much as any." Shakespeare mingled in 
the merry life of the London taverns where poets, play- 
wrights, and actors met to discuss their work and to 
fleet the time carelessly. " Many were the wit-combats " 
wrote Thomas Fuller in the next generation il betwixt 



Biography 27 

him and Ben Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish 
great galleon and an English man-of-war ; Master Jonson 
(like the former) was built far higher in learning, solid 
but slow in his performances. Shakespear, with the 
English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, 
could turn with all tides, tack about, and take advantage 
of all winds by the quickness of his wit and invention." 

Outside of his immediate circle Shakespeare had prob- 
ably few friends, though many admirers. The dedica- 
tions of his two poems show the strength of the tie which 
bound him to the Earl of Southampton ; " the love I 
dedicate to your lordship is without end " he wrote. 
Shakespeare's sonnets reveal a passionate conception of 
friendship unmatched in English literature, and many 
critics believe that they were addressed to this same 
nobleman. Another claimant for this honour is William 
Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who is said by Shakespeare's 
friends, Heming and Condell, to have been a patron of 
the poet. The sonnets seem to tell a strange and sad 
story of Shakespeare's devotion to a noble youth, of his 
passion for a fascinating but dangerous woman, of his 
betrayal by his friend and the lady, of his bitter grief, and 
of his final reconciliation with his friend. Many attempts 
have been made to throw light upon this story and to 
ascertain the identity of the friend and the lady, but we 
know too little of Shakespeare's life in London to come 
to any positive conclusion on these points. One thing 
alone seems plain, that Shakespeare had sinned and been 
even more deeply sinned against, that he had suffered 



28 Biography 

and sorrowed, and forgiven, and that these sad experi- 
ences of life gave him a tender sympathy with erring 
humanity and a deep sense of the necessity of charity for 
human weakness. 

Shakespeare seems to have left London for Stratford 
about the year 1611, and, although he paid an occa- 
sional visit to the capital, his last years were spent in the 
comfort and quiet retirement of his country home. 
There can have been little charm for Shakespeare in the 
society of Stratford. His wife was now an elderly woman, 
ignorant of the world, and devoutly puritanical. His little 
son, Hamnet, whom he had hoped to make the heir of 
his estate, was long since dead, and his eldest daughter 
had married an able, but narrow and fanatical, country 
doctor. In the town itself the growing strength and bit- 
terness of Puritanism, shown by the fact that in 161 2 the 
town council imposed a prohibitive fine of something like 
$400, upon all stage-plays, must have been most repug- 
nant to him. Yet there is no reason to suppose that 
Shakespeare's last years were unhappy. It would have 
been easy for him to have remained in London, had he 
preferred. But he had grown weary of the city and 
deliberately broke the bonds that held him there, selling 
his shares in the two theatres and turning over the manu- 
scripts of his unfinished plays to be worked up by other 
and weaker hands. He found in Stratford what he 
sought, — rest, a retreat from the noises of the world, 
and the companionship of nature. His little grandchild 
was growing up into girlhood, and many a passage in 



Biography 29 

Shakespeare's plays shows his tender love of children. 
He saw his daughter Judith married to the son of one of 
his old friends, and Jonson and Drayton, who visited him 
in this year, may have come down to help celebrate the 
wedding festivities. Shortly afterward Shakespeare fell 
ill of a fever, rising probably from the dirty streets and 
choked gutters of the little town. He had time to make 
his will and dispose of all his property, leaving the greater 
part of his estate to Susanna, a handsome portion to Ju- 
dith, and his second best bed to his wife. He died on 
the 23d of April, 16 16, and was buried inside the beau- 
tiful parish church of Stratford. The handsome monu- 
ment erected over the grave testifies as plainly to the 
affection with which his family regarded the poet, as its 
pompous Latin epitaph does to their entire incomprehen- 
sion of his genius. The true monument to Shakespeare's 
genius is that erected by his friends, Heming and Con- 
dell, who, in 1623, seven years after his death, published 
the first collected edition of his dramas ; and one line 
of the poem by Ben Jonson prefixed to this edition 
is, perhaps, the most fitting epitaph ever penned for 
Shakespeare : — 

" He was not of an age, but for all time." 



INTRODUCTION 

In the year 1610 Dr. Simon Forman, a notorious Lon- 
don quack, entered in a little note-book, which some 
lucky chance has preserved for us, a detailed account of 
a performance of Macbeth at the Globe Theatre on April 
20 of that year. This gives us, of course, positive 
proof that Macbeth was already on the stage in 16 10. 
That it cannot have been written before the accession of 
James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603 is 
established by the reference in the play to the union of 
the kingdoms (iv. 1. 120, 121), and by the allusion to 
James's practice of " touching for the evil " (iv. 3. 
141-156). Somewhere between these dates, then, the 
play must have been composed, and most editors now 
agree on the year 1606. It is not impossible that Shake- 
speare's attention was attracted to the story by a college 
performance at Oxford in August of 1605, when three 
students, attired like the weird sisters of the legend, 
reminded King James of the prophecy once made to his 
ancestor, Banquo. 

Shakespeare found the story of Banquo and Macbeth 
told at full length in one of his favourite books, Holin- 
shed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
In brief Holinshed's account is as follows : — 

30 



Introduction 31 

King Duncan was so soft and gentle of nature that he was unable to 
restrain his unruly subjects. A certain Macdowald headed a rebellious 
army, including numbers of men from the western isles and many kerns 
and gallowglasses from Ireland. After some successes he was attacked 
and defeated by Macbeth and Banquo, whereupon he slew himself, and 
his head was cut off and sent as a present to King Duncan. 

Immediately thereafter Sweno, king of Norway, landed in Fife with a 
great army. He was, however, expelled by Macbeth, who also defeated 
an invading army of Danes, and forced them to pay a great sum of gold 
to secure the burial of their dead at St. Colme's Inch. 

Not long after these victories, while Macbeth and Banquo were walk- 
ing alone through the woods and fields, there met them three women 
" in strange and wild apparel, resembling creatures of elder world." 
The first of these spake and said, " All hail, Macbeth, thane of Glamis ; " 
the second, "Hail, Macbeth, thane of Cawdor;" but the third said 
"All hail, Macbeth, that hereafter shalt be king of Scotland." When 
Banquo bade the women speak to him, the first of them replied that 
they promised him greater benefits than Macbeth, who should reign 
indeed, but should come to an unlucky end and leave no heirs to the 
crown, whereas Banquo, though not destined himself to reign, should 
be the father of a long line of Scottish kings. And hereupon the women 
vanished. 

At first Macbeth and Banquo thought little of this vision and even 
jested over the prophecies. But afterward it was thought that these 
women were either the weird sisters, that is, the goddesses of destiny, or 
else nymphs or fairies, because all came to pass as they had spoken. 
For in a little while the thane of Cawdor was condemned for high 
treason and his title and estate were conferred upon Macbeth. There- 
upon Macbeth began to consider how he might obtain the crown as 
well. At first he decided to wait until Divine Providence should make 
him king; but when Duncan proclaimed his first-born son, Malcolm, 
Prince of Cumberland and heir to the kingdom, Macbeth determined 
to seize the throne by force. 

In this design he was encouraged by his wife, who was very ambi- 
tious, " burning in unquenchable desire to bear the name of a queen." 
At last Macbeth with a number of trusty friends, of whom Banquo was 
the chief, fell upon Duncan and slew him at Inverness. Duncan's body 
was interred at Colmekill ; and Macbeth went to Scone, where he was 



32 Macbeth 

crowned king. The sons of Duncan, Malcolm, and Donald Bane, fled 
to England and Ireland respectively, and Macbeth reigned unopposed 
in Scotland. 

For ten years Macbeth ruled the land with impartial justice. But at 
last, through fear that he might be treated as he had served Duncan, he 
began to practise cruelty. Remembering the prophecy of the witches 
to Banquo, he invited his old friend, along with his son, Fleance, to a 
banquet, and set murderers upon them as they left the palace. Banquo 
was slain ; but Fleance escaped and fled to Wales. 

After the murder of Banquo nothing prospered with Macbeth, his 
subjects distrusted him, and he in turn feared them. Certain wizards 
warned him against Macduff, one of his nobles, and he would surely 
have slain him at once, but a witch whom he trusted prophesied that he 
should never be killed by any man born of woman, and never van- 
quished until Birnam wood came to his castle of Dunsinane. Con- 
fident in this prophecy he took no steps against Macduff, but oppressed 
his people more cruelly than before. 

Finally Macduff decided to invite the exiled Malcolm to claim his 
father's throne. Macbeth heard of this through a spy, and came to Mac- 
duff's castle where he massacred Macduff's wife and children, and all 
his retainers. But Macduff himself had already escaped to England, 
where he told Malcolm of the usurper's cruelty, and urged him to in- 
vade Scotland. Malcolm, however, suspected that Macduff might be 
sent by Macbeth to betray him, and, to put him to the test, he began to 
accuse himself of all sorts of vices, especially of licentiousness, avarice, 
and falsehood. Thereupon Macduff broke out into lament over the 
wretched state of Scotland, oppressed by a bloody tyrant, and deserted 
by the true heir who was unworthy to obtain the crown. At this proof 
of his true patriotism Malcolm embraced Macduff, and shortly after 
they" invaded Scotland, supported by Siward of Northumberland with 
ten thousand men. 

On his way to attack Dunsinane, where Macbeth had shut himself up, 
Malcolm passed through Birnam wood, and in order to conceal the 
numbers of his troop he ordered every soldier to cut down a bough 
and bear it before him. When Macbeth saw the moving wood 
approaching, he realized that the prophecy was now fulfilled, and 
straightway took to flight. Macduff, however, overtook him, and 
destroyed his last hope by declaring that he was the destined slayer of 



Introduction 33 

Macbeth, inasmuch as he had not been born of woman, but had been 
ripped from his mother's womb. And with these words he cut off Mac- 
beth's head and brought it on a pole to Malcolm. This prince was then 
crowned at Scone, and rewarded his followers by promoting those who 
had before been thanes to be earls. iVnd these were the first earls in 
Scotland. 

It is plain that Shakespeare not only held closely to 
Ihe general outline of the story as he read it in Holin- 
shed, but that he also borrowed from it many minute 
details and even phrases which with the finest art he 
adapted to his dramatic purposes. At the same time 
there are several notable divergences. 

In the first place Shakespeare compressed the intro- 
ductory matter as much as possible, only reporting Mac- 
beth's double victory on one great day of battle in order 
to set him before us as a loyal and successful soldier. For 
the sake of unity he brought the treason of Cawdor into 
connection with Sweno's invasion, and he heightened the 
rapidity of the action by bestowing Cawdor's title upon 
Macbeth immediately after the prophecy of the weird 
sisters. 

More important, however, is Shakespeare's departure 
from his sources as regards his treatment of the character 
of Banquo. This departure was probably due in the first 
place to the fact that Shakespeare felt it impossible to 
represent the ancestor of the reigning sovereign as a rebel 
and a partner with Macbeth in the murder of their king. 
And, secondly, he realized that from the dramatic point 
of view it would be a great improvement on the story if 
he presented in Banquo a sharp contrast to Macbeth, and 

MACBETH — 3 



34 Macbeth 

asserted the freedom of the human will by exposing him 
to the same temptation as Macbeth, without permitting 
him to fall into sin. 

The details of the murder of Duncan, Shakespeare 
drew for the most part from Holinshed's account of the 
murder of King Duff by his trusted servant, Donwald. 
This nobleman had a private grudge against the king 
which his wife worked upon until she induced him to kill 
his master. Waiting for their opportunity until a time 
when the king was staying with them, Donwald and his 
wife intoxicated the two chamberlains who guarded the 
king's bed and then sent in assassins who slew him. In 
the morning when the murder was discovered Donwald 
rushed into the king's room and killed the chamberlains 
with his own hand, accusing them of having been accom- 
plices in the deed. For six months thereafter the people 
of Scotland saw neither sun nor moon, but were continu- 
ally troubled by darkness and great storms. Horses were 
seen to eat their own flesh, and a sparhawk was strangled 
by an owl, — evident omens of the anger of Heaven. 

One or two other incidents of minor importance, such 
as the death of young Siward and, possibly, the voice 
that cried, " Macbeth shall sleep no more," were sug- 
gested to Shakespeare by other passages in the chronicle. 

In Holinshed we hear of certain wizards and a witch 
who warned and encouraged Macbeth, as well as of the 
three women who first prophesied that he should be king. 
The statement in Holinshed that these women were com- 
monly regarded as the "weird sisters," that is, the "god- 



Introduction 35 

desses of destiny " probably shows that in an old form 
of the legend they appeared as the Norns, or Fates of 
Scandinavian mythology. Shakespeare, however, who 
knew little or nothing of the Norns, simply identified the 
three sisters with the witches of popular superstition, and 
assigned to them the warning and the prophecies of the 
wizards and the trusted witch of Holinshed. 

The belief in witchcraft, that is, in the existence of 
men and women who had voluntarily sold themselves to 
the devil and had obtained from him supernatural powers, 
was, in Shakespeare's day, almost universally accepted. 
It was held as an article of faith both by the Roman 
Catholic and the Protestant churches, and it was recog- 
nized by the laws of both England and Scotland. Even 
so enlightened a thinker as Bacon did not deny the possi- 
bility of witchcraft, and Shakespeare probably accepted 
without question the common belief of his day. It is 
remarkable, moreover, that a great revival of this belief 
had occurred in Scotland toward the close of the sixteenth 
century, and that in England also the smouldering fires 
of superstition had been fanned into new life by the 
accession of the orthodox and witch-hating Scottish king. 
James, it seems, had strong personal grounds for his 
hatred of witchcraft. In 1589 the fleet which was bring- 
ing home his bride, Princess Anne of Denmark, was 
dispersed by a violent storm, which was popularly at- 
tributed to the devilish arts of a company of Scottish 
sorcerers and witches, against whom the monarch promptly 
instituted an aggressive campaign. It is said that in the 



36 Macbeth 

next year he condemned and burned no less than two 
hundred men and women as guilty of witchcraft. Nine 
years later James published a learned treatise on witch- 
craft, called De?nonologie. This book was reprinted about 
the time of his accession to the English throne and may 
possibly have been known to Shakespeare. In 1604 
James induced the English Parliament to pass a law 
inflicting capital punishment on all persons who by 
magical acts killed or harmed the bodies of his subjects. 
This law remained in force for more than a century, and 
this century was especially noteworthy in England for the 
frequency of trials for witchcraft. It is plain, therefore, 
that in treating the topic of witchcraft as he did in 
Macbeth, Shakespeare was dealing with no antiquated 
prejudice, but with one of the most widespread and 
virulent superstitions of his time. 

The witches of Macbeth possess quite enough of the 
characteristics of the witches of Elizabethan superstition 
to establish the identity of the two. They are hideously 
ugly, with choppy fingers, skinny lips, and unwomanish 
beards. Each has a familiar spirit, cat, toad, or harpy. 
They kill swine, sail the sea in sieves, fly through the air, 
drive away sleep, cause sickness, and raise up tempests. 
The ingredients of their " hell-broth " were the familiar 
materials of witchcraft. These are all realistic touches, 
and yet the idealistic method of Shakespeare is nowhere 
more plainly visible to the thoughtful reader than in the 
manner in which he lifts the witches of his play above 
the miserable creatures of popular superstition. Their 



Introduction 37 

very appearance has something supernatural about it ; 
they " look not like the inhabitants of earth." There is 
not the faintest reference in Macbeth to the foul sexual 
practices commonly attributed to witches. In their 
dealings with Macbeth the witches are prompted neither 
by greed of profit nor thirst for revenge, the usual 
motives assigned to the witch, but by a sheer love of 
evil for evil's sake. And in the case of Macbeth at least, 
the evil that they do is not material, but spiritual, a thing 
uncommon, if not altogether unknown, in the popular 
accounts of witches. In short, Shakespeare has exalted 
the witches into true and typical representatives of the 
Principle of Evil. It is as such that they are recognized 
by the wise and virtuous Banquo, who speaks of them as 
" instruments of darkness." And Macbeth himself, when 
at last awakened from the fatal dream of security into 
which their predictions have cast him, realizes that their 
words were nothing more than the " equivocation of the 
fiend." There was an absurd discrepancy in the popu- 
lar belief between the powers of the witch and her per- 
formances, limited as these were for the most part to 
malicious mischief or the infliction of bodily harm. 
Shakespeare wiped out this discrepancy by directing 
the attacks of the weird sisters not against the body, 
but against the soul of Macbeth. The one scene in 
the play which is inconsistent with this conception of 
the witches as representatives of the Evil One, the fifth 
scene of the third act, is assuredly not the work of 
Shakespeare. 



38 Macbeth 

The fact is that Macbeth, as it has come down to us, is 
not wholly the work of Shakespeare's hand. For some 
incomprehensible reason this masterpiece of tragedy 
does not seem to have been especially popular in his 
day. We have but one notice of its performance during 
Shakespeare's lifetime, and only one direct allusion to it 
has been discovered in the literature of his day. 1 When 
it was revived in the reign of Charles II, it was trans- 
formed into something like an opera with flying machines, 
songs, and a " variety of dancing and music," so that a 
theatre-goer of the day pronounced it a most excellent 
play in all respects, " but especially in divertissment, 
though it be a deep tragedy." In an edition of Macbeth 
published in 1674, which gives us this new version, there 
are two songs which are indicated in the Folio text (see 
Notes, pp. 219 and 223), and which are found in full in 
The Witch by Thomas Middleton. 

There has been some dispute as to whether Shake- 
speare or Middleton was the author of these songs ; but 
they are now universally assigned to the latter. A mere 
glance should, I think, be enough to show that they are 
not the sort of thing that Shakespeare would put in the 
mouth of the weird sisters, or their familiar spirits. The 
first of them is mentioned in Macbeth in the stage di- 
rection to iii. 5. 32 ; the second in that to iv. 1. 43. The 
versions in The Witch are as follows : — 

I. Come away, come away, 
Hecate, Hecate, come away! 

1 In Beaumont and Fletcher's foiight of the Burning Pestle, v. i. 



Introduction . 39 

Hec. I come, I come, I come, I come, 
With all the speed I may, 
With all the speed I may. 
Where's Stadlin ? 1 
( Voice above) Here. 

Hec. Where's Puckle ? 
( Voice above) Here ; 

And Hoppo too, and Hellwain too ; 
We lack but you, we lack but you ; 
Come away, make up the count. 
Hec. I will but 'noint, and then I mount. 

[A Spirit like a cat descends 

II. Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray, 
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may. 

Titty, Tiffin, 

Keep it stiff in ; 

Firedrake, Puckey, 

Make it lucky ; 

Liard, Robin, 

You must bob in. 
Round, around, around, about, about ! 
All ill come running in, all good keep out. 

It seems fairly certain that Middleton, who frequently 
wrote plays for Shakespeare's company, was invited by 
the actors to touch up Macbeth for some revival which 
took place between the date of Shakespeare's leaving 
London and the publication of the Folio. By way of in- 
creasing the attractiveness of the play Middleton inserted 
in it these two songs from his own unpublished Witch, 
and a marginal direction for this insertion in the play- 
house manuscript of the drama was reproduced in the 
first printed copy of Macbeth. 

!The name of another witch, as are those of Puckle, Hoppo, and 
Hellwain. 



40 Macbeth 

There has been much dispute as to the extent of Mid- 
dleton's interference with the original form of Macbeth. 
Some critics suppose him to have made extensive cuts; 
but there is no evidence of this. It has also been stated 
that Middleton added several scenes of his own compo- 
sition; i. 2; i. 3. 1-37; h. 3. 1-46; and v. 2, for 
example, have been assigned to him. But there is no 
good reason for this statement, and the general consensus 
of scholars limits Middleton's additions, apart from the 
songs, to one scene, hi. 5, and a few lines in another, 

iv. 1. 39-49. and l2 5~ I 3 2 - 

The reasons for assigning these passages to Middleton 
may be briefly stated. Hecate, who appears in hi. 5, is 
a prominent character in his play, The Witch, where she 
figures as the mistress of a band of hags. She contributes 
nothing to the action in Macbeth, and her rebuke to the 
witches and their fear of her is quite inconsistent with 
Shakespeare's conception of their characters. The iam- 
bic rhythm of her speeches is a favourite of Middleton's, 
but contrasts strongly with the trochaic metre which 
Shakespeare puts into the mouths of the witches. The 
same iambic metre appears in the speech of the First 
Witch in iv. 1. 125-132, where the idea that the witches 
should cheer up Macbeth by a dance is much more sug- 
gestive of Middleton than of Shakespeare. Middleton's 
additions, in short, were mere devices to introduce music 
and dancing and so lighten the sternly tragic character of 
the play. 

The un-Shakespearean element in Macbeth is, after all, 



Introduction 41 

a minor matter. It is limited in quantity, and although 
it is out of keeping with Shakespeare's genuine work, it 
does not impair the essential unity of his conception. 
Macbeth is one of the shortest of Shakespeare's plays ; 
it is by far the shortest of his great tragedies. It includes 
no underplot ; it contains, with the single brief exception 
of the Porter scene, no comic relief; it holds with stern 
self-restraint to the development of the main action and 
discards the broader and more varied presentation of life 
which Shakespeare, as a rule, employed in his dramatic 
treatment of tragic and historic themes. There is not a 
single scene in the play which does not either contribute 
to, or comment upon, the main story. The movement of 
the action is so swift as to produce the effect of breathless 
haste. And the whole interest of the drama centres round 
the heroic figure of Macbeth, to whom all the other char- 
acters are but reliefs and foils. And as a result there is 
no other play of Shakespeare's which possesses in so 
marked a degree the characteristic of unity. It has the 
effect of a magnificent improvisation upon a' theme 
which, at one period of his life, completely dominated 
his mind and impelled him irresistibly to give it dramatic 
expression. 

The theme of Macbeth is the word which once came to 
the prophet Ezekiel : " The soul that sinneth it shall die." 
There is a sense, indeed, in which this may be said to 
be the theme of all the great tragedies of Shakespeare. 
Thus Brutus perishes because of his inability to square 
his ideal conceptions with the practical demands of life, 



X 



42 Macbeth 

and Hamlet because he prefers until too late melancholy 
brooding to resolute action ; Othello's fault is want of 
faith in womanly purity ; Coriolanus is the victim of his 
selfish pride, Lear of his own folly and impatience, 
Antony of his lustful passion. But the peculiar and 
distinguishing characteristic of Macbeth is that its hero 
alone of Shakespeare's great tragic figures sins deliberately 
and wilfully, realizing from the beginning the unpardon- 
able nature of his crime. No sooner does the temptation 
to seize the crown enter his mind than he calls the act 
which he must commit to gain his end by its proper name 
of murder. He is willing to "jump the life to come " in 
order to obtain his desire upon earth ; but he realizes 
perfectly what price he must pay for the satisfaction of 
his desire. And that this realization comes to him even 
before he has committed the deed is amply shown by 
a phrase in the great soliloquy of the first act, where 
he speaks of the " deep damnation " of the murder. 
Macbeth's later crimes spring from his first deed of blood, 
but in no case does he pretend to any higher motive than 
that which actually impels him, the securing of the fruits 
of his sin. Macbeth, in short, sells himself to the devil 
deliberately, and the witches who tempt him to this sin 
may, in a sense, be regarded as the poet's symbols, or 
personifications, of its deliberate and wilful nature, for 
witches were in Shakespeare's day regarded in no sense 
as supernatural powers, but simply as human beings who 
had of their own free will renounced God and chosen 
Satan as their master 



Introduction 43 

And just as Macbeth's sin is more conscious and de- 
liberate than that of any other of the protagonists of 
Shakespeare's tragedies, so his fall is deeper and his ruin 
more complete and hopeless. It does not consist so 
much in his loss of the throne, or his death upon the 
battle-field, as in the utter degeneration of his moral 
nature. He whose whole " state of man " was shaken by 
the first temptation to murder comes at last to love blood 
for its own sake. It takes all the powerful influence of 
his wife to nerve him to the actual killing of Duncan, but 
he needs no encouragement to plot the assassination of 
Banquo, and he massacres the household of Macduff with 
as little reason as remorse. Through the isolating influ- 
ence of his career of guilt he forfeits even the compan- 
ionship of her who had been his " dearest partner," and 
turns for aid and counsel to the witches from whose first 
apparition he had recoiled in horror. The final revela- 
tion that the powers of evil have mocked him brings him 
no hope of pardon or escape, but only fills him with a 
wild beast's desire of selling his life as dearly as possible. 
No other hero in Shakespeare's plays passes away in a 
catastrophe of such utter darkness. 

Macbeth's punishment, like his fall, is progressive and 
corresponds to the depth of his plunge into sin. The 
first stage is marked by violent mental suffering. He has 
no sooner slain Duncan than he bitterly regrets the deed. 
Terrible dreams shake him nightly ; his very meals are 
haunted by the fear of detection ; the vessel of his peace 
is full of rancours. His words to Lady Macbeth in the 



44 Macbeth 

early part of the third act sum up this stage : he lies " on 
the torture of the mind in restless ecstasy." 

This mental agony is succeeded by a lethargy, or numb- 
ness of feeling, which marks the gradual mortification of 
his soul. Lulled into a false security by the predictions 
of the witches, Macbeth forgets the sense of fear and ceases 
to suffer from the torture of the mind. The report of Ross 
in the fourth act shows that this period was attended by 
frequent acts of bloodshed, but Macbeth is no longer 
troubled by the ghosts of his victims. Yet he is none the 
less sick at heart. Now that he has ceased to fear, he 
realizes as never before the utter futility of his crimes. 
The crown has brought him nothing of all that he had 
hoped to enjoy with it ; and looking forward to a lonely 
and loveless old age, devoid of " honour, love, obedience, 
troops of friends," he feels that he has already lived too 
long. The news of his wife's death fails to rouse in him 
any emotion of sorrow, for existence in general seems to 
him in this mood of world-weariness as devoid of purpose 
or meaning as the babble of an idiot. He seems, indeed, 
on the point of suicide out of utter disgust with life. From 
this miserable state, Macbeth is roused by the report of 
the moving wood. His dream of safety broken, he plunges 
into action only to discover that the powers he trusted 
have delivered him into the hands of the avenger of blood. 
He has already tasted the bitterness of death before he 
falls under the sword of Macduff. Shakespeare's exposition 
of his theme, the utter ruin and inevitable punishment of 
the deliberately sinning soul, is complete and triumphant. 



Introduction 



45 



A few words are necessary to clear the character of the 
hero from current misconceptions. Macbeth is by no 
means a representative of the old barbaric Hi'ghland 
chieftains, no rough soldier, or mere man of action. On 
the contrary he is a noble and courteous gentleman. His 
wife characterizes him as " too full of the milk of human 
kindness " ; and his hesitation before and his suffering 
after the murder of Duncan show how abhorrent such 
a deed of blood was to his original disposition. His 
relation to his wife in the first part of the play and his 
bitter sense of loneliness at its close, show him to be a 
man of warm human affections ; and he is by no means 
indifferent to the breath of popular opinion. 

Macbeth is a man of vivid imagination : he sees a 
visionary dagger marshalling him to Duncan's chamber, 
he hears ghostly voices proclaiming his future punishment, 
his overwrought mind conjures up the spectre of the 
murdered Banquo. He is intensely susceptible to the 
influence of superstition, and has no firm belief in an 
overruling Providence to protect him against its ravages. 
In short Macbeth, though by no means base or brutal, is 
not a strong man mentally or morally. His reasoning 
faculties are as simple as his imagination is extraordinary, 
and hence it comes that he yields so readily to the 
stronger intellect and the firmer will of his wife. He 
lacks a true ideal of loyalty or duty ; mere earthly power 
appears to him in the stress of temptation as the highest 
good. And yet we feel as we close the play that in 
Macbeth there perished a man who under happier cir- 



46 Macbeth 

cumstances might have lived an honourable and even 
glorious life. Susceptible, impulsive, fearless of human 
foes, he is no bad type of the mediaeval knights who 
followed the lead of Peter the Hermit, or the gentlemen 
adventurers of Shakespeare's own day who singed the 
beard of the Spanish king. But the height to which he 
might have risen serves only to measure the depth of his 
fall. 
iv/^ Inasmuch as the whole interest of this drama centres 
about Macbeth, all the other personages are, quite prop- 
erly, subordinated to him. Lady Macbeth alone claims 
for a time an equal share of our attention. But a very 
brief consideration of the structure of the drama will show 
how little, comparatively speaking, Shakespeare cared for 
her. She does not appear in the story at all until Macbeth 
has resolved to murder Duncan, and she drops out of it 
almost unnoticed before the final catastrophe. The truth 
is that her part in the drama is merely relative ; it is a 
foil which serves to bring out more vividly the character 
of her husband. 

The character of Lady Macbeth, then, must be con- 
sidered as a masterly sketch dashed in with a few strong 
strokes rather than as an elaborate piece of portrait paint- 
ing. And as is often the case with sketches, the significance 
of the work has been frequently misunderstood. Lady 
Macbeth is no monster of bloodthirstiness nor incar- 
nate demon of ambition. Nor is she to be thought of 
as one of the wild heroines of Scandinavian legend.. On 
the contrary there is evidence in the play to show that 



Introduction 47 

Shakespeare thought of her as ' a slight and delicate 
woman. We hear of her "little hand"; we learn that 
she needs the stimulus of wine to carry her through the 
ordeal of the night of murder ; we see her swooning in the 
reaction that follows. And Macbeth's caressing phrase, 
"dearest chuck," is hardly the pet name that one would 
apply to a Valkyrie. So far from being bloodthirsty, it 
is hardly too much to say that Lady Macbeth is naturally 
of an affectionate and gentle disposition. She has been 
a loving daughter and a tender mother ; her whole atti- 
tude toward her husband is that of a devoted wife. The 
tremendous invocation to the powers of evil, which 
Shakespeare puts into her mouth, to unsex her, to fill her 
" top full of direst cruelty," shows in itself that she is not 
cruel by nature. 

Lady Macbeth is no doubt ambitious ; but she is am- 
bitious solely for her husband. There is not a word in 
the play which can be construed into a shadow of evi- 
dence that she desired the crown for her own sake. In 
this point Shakespeare has departed, with the fine instinct 
of a great artist, from the sources of his story. Holinshed 
speaks of Lady Macbeth's insatiable ambition, but to 
have introduced this motive into the play would at once 
have destroyed the unity of interest which centres round 
Macbeth alone. 

The dominant note in Lady Macbeth's character is 
her imperious and masterful will. What she wishes, she 
wishes most intensely ; and she drives herself and her hus- 
band relentlessly on to the attainment of the goal. She 



48 Macbeth 

has none of his fears and scruples, simply because she 
will not permit herself to consider anything but the ob- 
ject of her desire. On the other hand she shows no 
trace of Macbeth's sensitiveness to exterior impressions 
nor of his exalted imaginative powers. She sees no vis- 
ions and hears no ghostly voices. Her final ruin is due 
not so much to remorse as to a complete collapse of body 
and mind brought about, not only by the reaction from 
the terrible strain which her fierce will had imposed upon 
all her faculties, but, in an even greater degree, by the 
crushing disappointment which followed upon the attain- 
ment of her goal. The crown which was to give " solely 
sovereign sway and masterdom " to her husband, brought 
him only terrible dreams and bitter misery. And as 
he drifted farther and farther away from her upon a sea 
of guilt, she awoke to a realization of the irremediable 
mistake that she had made, like a traveller who has 
strained every nerve to reach some fancied fountain in 
the desert, only to find it a mirage. She is not sustained 
by any belief like her husband's in the false prophecies 
of the witches ; she has not even the last resource of 
desperate battle. Nothing is left her but death, and she 
seems to have sought death by her own hands. 

Of the remaining characters of the play only four 
deserve special notice. Banquo and MacdurT are very 
obviously a pair of figures introduced, not merely for the 
sake of the action, but, in large measure at least, for the 
sake of character contrast with Macbethl The impor- 
tance of Banquo's relation to the witches has already been 



Introduction 49 

pointed out. He fights against the temptation to which 
Macbeth succumbs, and invokes heavenly aid to banish 
the suggestions of evil. Yet Banquo is not wholly unaf- 
fected by the prophecy of the witches. In spite of his 
well-founded suspicions as to the real murderer of Dun- 
can, he makes no attempt to avenge his old master. On 
the contrary, he swears allegiance to Macbeth in the 
hope, it would seem, that by passively acquiescing in 
the crime he might hope to reap the profit foretold to 
his house. And this passive acquiescence is the direct 
cause of his own tragic fall. 

Macduff, on the other hand, who begins to play a 
prominent part in the story just as Banquo drops out of 
it, represents the simplicity and straightforwardness of a 
nature untouched by any dealings with the powers of evil. 
Of all the nobles he is evidently the most horror-stricken 
at the murder ; with the instinctive abhorrence of virtue 
to guilt, he assumes at once an attitude of opposition to 
Macbeth, declines to attend his coronation, and refuses 
the invitation to his solemn feast. His flight to England 
is prompted not so much by fear, for he has no knowl- 
edge of Macbeth's designs, as by the hope of restoring 
the true heir to the throne. His wild amazement at the 
fate which overwhelms his wife and children shows plainly 
that he has no conception of the depth of guilt to which 
Macbeth has sunk, and his own essential innocence ap- 
pears in his despairing outcry that his loved ones were 
punished for his sins. 

Duncan and Malcolm are a pair of characters intro- 

MACBETH — 4 



5<d Macbeth 

duced to represent the true king in contrast to Macbeth, 
the bloody usurper. Duncan's goodness is merely passive, 
and consists in gentleness, courtesy, and gratitude. He 
has been " clear in his great office." Malcolm, on the 
other hand, represents a more active type of virtue. He 
is prudent, wise in his choice of friends and councillors, 
active to redress wrongs and to avenge injuries. It is not 
without significance that Shakespeare repeatedly puts 
into his mouth pious expressions of his reliance on the 
power of God. The child of sainted parents, the friend 
and ally of the holy Confessor, he is the destined instru- 
ment of heaven for the overthrow of a tyranny in league 
with all the powers of darkness. 

Enough has already been said to enable us to realize 
the position of Macbeth among Shakespeare's plays. It 
is one of the four great dramas on which his fame as the 
supreme tragic poet rests. And if it lacks the subtlety of 
Hamlet, the pathos of Othello, and the wild sublimity of 
King Lear, it surpasses all three in unity of design, in 
swiftness of action, and in profound solemnity of purpose. 
In no other play does Shakespeare show so deep a sense 
of the reality and the power of evil ; in no other does he 
present so true and terrible a picture of moral ruin. In 
Professor Dowden's noble words, Macbeth is " a tragedy 
of twilight and the setting-in of thick darkness upon a 
human soul." 



MACBETH 



DRAMATIS PERSONS 



noblemen of Scotland. 



Duncan, king of Scotland. 

Malcolm, | , - „„„„ 
^ ' J- his- sons. 

DONALBAIN, ) 

Macbeth, { generals of the king's 
Banquo, !l army. 
Macduff, 
Lennox, 
Ross, 
Menteith, 
Angus, 
Caithness, 
Fleance, son of Banquo. 
Siward, earl of Northumberland, gen- 
eral of the English forces. 
Young Siward, his son. 
Seyton, an officer attending on Mac- 
beth. 
Boy, son to Macduff. 
An English Doctor. 



A Scotch Doctor. 
A Captain. 
A Porter. 
An Old Man. 

Lady Macbeth. 
Lady Macduff. 

Gentlewoman attending on Lady Mac- 
beth. 

Hecate. 
Three Witches. 
Apparitions. 

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, 
Murderers, Attendants, and Mes- 
sengers. 

Scene: Scotland; England. 



ACT I 

Scene I. A desert place 



Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches 

First Witch. When shall we three meet again ? 

In thunder, lightning, or in rain ? 
Second Witch. When the hurlyburly's done, 

When the battle's lost and won. 

3. hurlyburly, uproar of battle. 
Si 



$1 Macbeth [Act I 

Third Witch. That will be ere the set of sun. 

First Witch. Where the place ? 

Second Witch. Upon the heath. 

Third Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 

First Witch. I come, Graymalkin. 

Second Witch. Paddock calls. 

Third Witch. Anon ! 10 

All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. 

Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. A camp near Forres 

Alarum within. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donal- 
bain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleed- 
ing Captain 

Duncan. What bloody man is that ? He can report, 

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt 

The newest state. 
Malcolm. This is the sergeant 

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 

'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend ! 

Say to the king the knowledge of the broil 

As thou didst leave it. 
Captain. Doubtful it stood ; 

As two spent swimmers, that do cling together 

8. Graymalkin, grey cat. 9. Paddock, toad. 10. Anon, at 
once, here used in answer to a call, like our ' coming ! ' 12. filthy, 
murky. Scene II. Alarum, noise of battle. 3. newest, latest. 
8. spent, worn out. 



Scene II] Macbeth 53 

And choke their art. The merciless Macdon- 

wald — 
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 10 

The multiplying villanies of nature 
Do swarm upon him — from the western isles 
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied ; 
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, 
Show'd like a rebel's whore : but all's too 

weak : 
For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that 

name — 
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel 
Which smoked with bloody execution, 
Like valour's minion, 

Carved out his passage till he faced the slave ; 20 
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to 

him, 
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the 

chaps, 
And fix'd his head upon our battlements. 
Duncan. O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman ! 
Captain. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection 
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, 
So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to 

come 

13. kerns, light-armed foot-soldiers. 13. gallowglasses, heavy- 
armed foot-soldiers. 13. supplied, reinforced. 19. minion, 
favourite. 22. unseam? d, ripped upen. 22. nave, navel. 22. chaps, 
jaws. 



54 Macbeth [Act I 

Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, 
mark: 

No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd, 

Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their 
heels, 30 

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, 

With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men, 

Began a fresh assault. 
Duncan. Dismay'd not this 

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ? 
Captain. Yes ; 

As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 

If I say sooth, I must report they were 

As cannons overcharged with double cracks ; so 
they 

Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe : 

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, 

Or memorize another Golgotha, 40 

I cannot tell — 

But I am faint ; my gashes cry for help. 
Duncan. So well thy words become thee as thy 
wounds ; 

They smack of honour both. Go get him sur- 
geons. \Exit Captain, attended. 

Who comes here ? 

32. furbished, burnished. 36. sooth, truth. 37. cracks, a 

word applied by Shakespeare to the roar of thunder. 



Scene II] Macbeth 5$ 

Enter Ross and Angus 

Malcolm. The worthy thane of Ross. 

Lennox. What a haste looks through his eyes ! So 
should he look 
That seems to speak things strange. 

Ross. God save the king ! 

Duncan. Whence earnest thou, worthy thane ? 

Ross. From Fife, great king ; 

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky 
And fan our people cold. 50 

Norway himself with terrible numbers, 
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor 
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict ; 
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof, 
Confronted him with self-comparisons, 
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, 
Curbing his lavish spirit : and, to conclude, 
The victory fell on us. 

Dimcan. Great happiness ! 

Ross. That now 

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition ; 
Nor would we deign him burial of his men 60 

Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's inch, 
Ten thousand dollars to our general use. 

47. seems, is about to. 49. flout, insult. 53. dismal, dis- 
astrous. 55. self-comparisons, rivalry to himself. 57. lavish, 
unbridled. 58. That, so that. 59. Norways' 1 ', Norwegians'. 

59. composition, treaty of peace. 62. general, public. 



$6 Macbeth [Act I 

Duncan. No more that thane of Cawdor shall de- 
ceive 
Our bosom interest : go pronounce his present 

death, 
And with his former title greet Macbeth. 
Ross. I'll see it done. 

Duncan. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene III. A heath 

Thunder. Enter the three Witches 

First Witch. Where hast thou been, sister ? 

Second Witch. Killing swine. 

Third Witch. Sister, where thou ? 

First Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, 

And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd. 
' Give me,' quoth I : 

' Aroint thee, witch ! ' the rump-fed ronyon cries. 

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the 
Tiger ; 

But in a sieve I'll thither sail, 

And, like a rat without a tail, 

I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. 10 

Second Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 
First Witch. Thou'rt kind. 
Third Witch. And I another. 

64. present, instant. Scene III. 6. Aroint thee, begone. 

6. ronyon, scabby woman. 



Scene ill] Macbeth 57 

First Witch. I myself have all the other ; 

And the very ports they blow, 

All the quarters that they know 

I' the shipman's card. 

I'll drain him dry as hay : 

Sleep shall neither night nor day 

Hang upon his pent-house lid ; 20 

He shall live a man forbid : 

Weary se'nnights nine times nine 

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine : 

Though his bark cannot be lost, 

Yet it shall be tempest-tost. 

Look what I have. 
Second Witch. Show me, show me. 
First Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, 

Wreck'd as homeward he did come. 

\_Drum within. 
Third Witch. A drum, a drum ! 30 

Macbeth doth come. 
All. The weird sisters, hand in hand, 

Posters of the sea and land, 

Thus do go about, about : 

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, 

And thrice again, to make up nine. 

Peace ! the charm's wound up. 

20. pent-house lid, eyelid. 21. forbid, banned, bewitched. 

22. se'nnights, weeks. 33. Posters, couriers. 



58 Macbeth [Act I 

Enter Macbeth and Banquo 

Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. 
Baiiquo. How far is't call'd to .Forres ? What are 
these 
So wither 'd, and so wild in their attire, 40 

That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth. 
And yet are on't ? Live you ? or are you aught 
That man may question ? You seem to under- 
stand me, 
By each at once her choppy finger laying 
Upon her skinny lips : you should be women, 
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret 
That you are so. 
Macbeth. Speak, if you can : what are you ? 

First Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane 

of Glamis ! 
Second Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane 

of Cawdor ! 
Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king 

hereafter ! 50 

Banquo. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to 
fear 
Things that do sound so fair ? T the name of 

truth, 
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed 
Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner 

44. choppy, chapped. 53. fantastical, imaginary. 54. show, 
seem to be. 



Scene Hi] Macbeth 59 

You greet with present grace and great predic- 
tion 
Of noble having and of royal hope, 
That he seems rapt withal : to me you speak not : 
If you can look into the seeds of time, 
And say which grain will grow and which will not, 
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 60 

Your favours nor your hate. 

First Witch. Hail ! 

Second Witch. Hail ! 

Third Witch. Hail ! 

First Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 

Second Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 

Third Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be 
none : 
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo ! 

First Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail ! 

Macbeth. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more : 70 
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis ; 
But how of Cawdor ? the thane of Cawdor lives, 
A prosperous gentleman ; and to be king 
Stands not within the prospect of belief, 
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence 
You owe this strange intelligence ? or why 
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way 
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge 
you. [ Witches vanish. 

56. having, estate. 57. That, so that. 57. withal, therewith. 
67. get, beget. 76. owe, get. 



60 Macbeth [Act I 

Banquo. The earth hath bubbles as the water has, 
And these are of them : whither are they 

vanish 'd ? 80 

Macbeth. Into the air, and what seem'd corporal 
melted 
As breath into the wind. Would they had 
stay'd ! 
Banquo. Were such things here as we do speak 
about ? 
Or have we eaten on the insane root 
That takes the reason prisoner ? 
Macbeth. Your children shall be kings. 
Ba?iquo. You shall be king. 

Macbeth. And thane of Cawdor too : went it not so ? 
Banquo. To the selfsame tune and words. Who's 
here ? 

E?iter Ross and Angus 

Ross. The king hath happily received, Macbeth, 

The news of thy success : and when he reads 90 
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, 
His wonders and his praises do contend 
Which should be thine or his : silenced with 

that, 
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day, 
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 
Strange images of death. As thick as hail 

90. reads, learns. 96. Nothing, not at all. 



Scene Hi] Macbeth 6 1 

Came post with post, and every one did bear 

Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, 

And pour'd them down before him. 
Angus. We are sent ioo 

To give thee, from our royal master, thanks ; 

Only to herald thee into his sight, 

Not pay thee. 
Ross. And for an earnest of a greater honour, 

He bade me, from him, call thee thane of 
Cawdor : 

In which addition, hail, most worthy thane ! 

For it is thine. 
Banquo. What, can the devil speak true ? 

Macbeth. The thane of Cawdor lives : why do you 
dress me 

In borrow'd robes ? 
Angus. Who was the thane lives yet, 

But under heavy judgement bears that life no 

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was 
combined 

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel 

With hidden help and vantage, or that with both 

He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not ; 

But treasons capital, confess'd and proved, 

Have overthrown him. 
Macbeth. [Aside] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor : 

The greatest is behind. [To Boss and Angus] 

Thanks for your pains. — 

104. earnest, pledge. 106. addition, title. 1 1 2. line, aid. 



62 Macbeth [Act i 

[To Banqud\ Do you not hope your children 

shall be kings, 
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me 
Promised no less to them ? 

Banquo. That, trusted home, 120 

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, 
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange : 
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 
The instruments of darkness tell us truths, 
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's 
In deepest consequence. 

[To Boss and Angus] Cousins, a word, I pray 
you. 

Macbeth. [Aside] Two truths are told, 
As happy prologues to the swelling act 
Of the imperial theme. [To Boss and Angus] 

I thank you, gentlemen. — 
[Aside] This supernatural soliciting 130 

Cannot be ill ; cannot be good : if ill, 
Why hath it given me earnest of success, 
Commencing in a truth ? I am thane of 

Cawdor : 
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion 
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair 
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, 
Against the use of nature ? Present fears 
Are less than horrible imaginings : 

121. enkindle, incite. 128. happy, lucky, successful. 134. sug- 
gestion, temptation. 135. image, idea, 



Scene ill] Macbeth 63 

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, 
Shakes so my single state of man that function 140 
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is 
But what is not. 
Banquo. Look, how our partner's rapt. 

Macbeth. [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, 
chance may crown me, 
Without my stir. 
Banqito. New honours come upon him, 

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their 

mould 
But with the aid of use. 
Macbeth. [Aside] Come what come may, 

Time and the hour runs through the roughest 
day. 
Banquo. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your 

leisure. 
Macbeth. Give me your favour : my dull brain was 
wrought 
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your 

pains 150 

Are register'd where every day I turn 
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. 
[To Banquo] Think upon what hath chanced, 

and at more time, 
The interim having weigh 'd it, let us speak 
Our free hearts each to other. 

140. function, activity of the intellect. 141. surmise, thought 
of the future. 149. wrought, worked upon, agitated. 



64 Macbeth [Act I 

Banquo. Very gladly. 

Macbeth. Till then, enough. Come, friends. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Forres. The palace 

Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, 
Lennox, and Attendants 

Duncan. Is execution done on Cawdor ? Are not 
Those in commission yet return'd ? 

Malcolm. My liege, 

They are not yet come back. But I have spoke 
With one that saw him die, who did report 
That very frankly he confess 'd his treasons, 
Implored your highness' pardon and set forth 
A deep repentancejnothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving it ; he died 
As one that had been studied in his death, 
To throw away the dearest thing he owed 10 

As 'twere a careless trifle. 

Duncan. There's no art 

To find the mind's construction in the face : 
He was a gentleman on whom I built 
An absolute trust. 

Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus 

O worthiest cousin ! 

6. set forth, declared. 10. owed, owned. II. careless, worth- 
less. 12. construction, interpretation. 



Scene IV] Macbeth 6$ 

The sin of my ingratitude even now 
Was heavy on me : thou art so far before, 
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow 
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less 

deserved, 
That the proportion both of thanks and pay- 
ment 
Might have been mine ! only I have left to say, 20 
More is thy due than more than all can pay. 

Macbeth. The service and the loyalty I owe, 
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part 
Is to receive our duties : and our duties 
Are, to your throne and state, children and 

servants ; 
Which do but what they should, by doing every- 
thing 
Safe toward your love and honour. 

Dimcan. Welcome hither : 

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour 
To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo, 
That hast no less deserved, nor must be known 30 
No less to have done so : let me infold thee 
And hold thee to my heart. 

Banquo. There if I grow, 

The harvest is your own. 

Dimcan. My plenteous joys, 

Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves 
In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 
And you whose places are the nearest, know, 

MACBETH — 5 



66 Macbeth [Act i 

We will establish our estate upon 

Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter 

The Prince of Cumberland : which honour 

must 
Not unaccompanied invest him only, 40 

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine 
On all deservers. [To Macbeth'] From hence 

to Inverness, 
And bind us further to you. 

Macbeth. The rest is labour, which is not used for 
you : 
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful 
The hearing of my wife with your approach ; 
So humbly take my leave. 

Duncan. My worthy Cawdor ! 

Macbeth. [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland ! that 
is a step 
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires ; 50 
Let not light see my black and deep desires : 
The eye wink at the hand ; yet let that be 
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. 

[Exit. 

Duncan. True, worthy Banquo ; he is full so valiant, 
And in his commendations I am fed ; 
It is a banquet to me. Let's after him, 
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome : 
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt. 

45. harbinger, forerunner. 



Scene V] Macbeth 6j 

Scene V. Inverness. Macbeth's Castle 

Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter 

Lady Macbeth. ' They met me in the day of success ; 
and I have learned by the perfectest report, they 
have more in them than mortal knowledge. 
When I burned in desire to question them fur- 
ther, they made themselves air, into which they 
vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder 
of it, came missives from the king, who all- 
hailed me " Thane of Cawdor ; " by which title, 
before, these weird sisters saluted me, and re- 
ferred me to the coming on of time, with " Hail/ 10 
king that shalt be ! " This have I thought good 
to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, 
that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, 
by being ignorant of what greatness is promised 
thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.' 
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be 
What thou art promised : yet do I fear thy na- 
ture ; 
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness 
To catch the nearest way : thou wouldst be 

great ; 
Art not without ambition, but without 20 

The illness should attend it : what thou wouldst 
highly, 

7. missives, messengers. 12. deliver, report. 



68 Macbeth [Act I 

That wouldst thou holily ; wouldst not play 

false, 
And yet wouldst wrongly win : thou'ldst have, 

great Glamis, 
That which cries ' Thus thou must do, if thou 

have it ; ' 
And that which rather thou dost fear to do 
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee 

hither, 
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, 
And chastise with the valour of my tongue 
All that impedes thee from the golden round, 
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem 30 

To have thee crown'd withal. 

Enter a Messenger 

What is your tidings ? 
Messenger, The king comes here to-night. 
Lady Macbeth. Thou'rt mad to say it : 

Is not thy master with him ? who, were't so, 

Would have inform'd for preparation. 
Messenger. So please you, it is true : our thane is 
coming : 

One of my fellows had the speed of him, 

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more 

Than would make up his message. 
Lady Macbeth. Give him tending; 

30. metaphysical, supernatural. 31. withal, with. 38. tending, 
attention. 



Scene V] Macbeth 69 

He brings great news. \Exit Messenger. 

The raven himself is hoarse 
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 40 

Under my battlements. Come, you spirits 
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, 
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full 
Of direst cruelty ! make thick my blood, 
Stop up the access and passage to remorse, 
That no compunctious visitings of nature 
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between 
The effect and it! Come to my woman's 

breasts, 
And take my milk for gall, you murdering 

ministers, 
Wherever in your sightless substances 50 

You wait on nature's mischief ! Come, thick 

night, 
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, 
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, 
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 
To cry < Hold, hold ! ' 

Enter Macbeth 

Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor ! 
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter ! 
Thy letters have transported me beyond 
This ignorant present, and I feel now 
The future in the instant. 

42. mortal, murderous. 45. remorse, pity. 47. fell, cruel. 



70 Macbeth [Act I 

Macbeth. My dearest love, 

Duncan comes here to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. And when goes hence ? 60 

Macbeth. To-morrow, as he purposes. 

Lady Macbeth. O, never 

Shall sun that morrow see ! 
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 
May read strange matters. To beguile the time, 
Look like the time ; bear welcome in your eye, 
Your hand, your tongue : look like the inno- 
cent flower, 
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming 
Must be provided for : and you shall put 
This night's great business into my dispatch ; 
Which shall to all our nights and days to come 70 
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 

Macbeth. We will speak further. 

Lady Macbeth. Only look up clear ; 

To alter favour ever is to fear : 
Leave all the rest to me. \Exeunt. 

Scene VI. Before Macbeth's castle 
Hautboys aiid to7'ches. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, 

DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENNOX, MACDUFF, ROSS, 

Angus, and Attendants 
Duncan. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 

73. favour, countenance. Scene VI. Hautboys, wind instru- 
ments. 1. seat, situation. 



Scene VI] Macbeth 71 

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
Unto our gentle senses. 
Banqiw. This guest of summer, 

The temple-hunting martlet, does approve 
By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath 
Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze, 
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird 
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle : 
Where they most breed and haunt, I have ob- 
served 
The air is delicate. 

Enter Lady Macbeth 

Duncan. See, see, our honour'd hostess ! 10 

The love that follows us sometime is our 
trouble, 

Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach 
you 

How you shall bid God 'i Id us for your pains, 

And thank us for your trouble. 
Lady Macbeth. All our service 

In every point twice done, and then done 
double, 

Were poor and single business to contend 

Against those honours deep and broad where- 
with 

4. martlet, martin, swallow. 4. approve, prove, show. 5. man- 
sionry, abode. 6. jutty, projection. 10. delicate, delicious. 13. bid, 
pray. 13. God'ild, God reward. 



72 Macbeth [Act I 

Your majesty loads our house : for those of old, 
And the late dignities heap'd up to them, 
We rest your hermits. 

Duncan. Where's the thane of Cawdor ? 20 

We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose 
To be his purveyor : but he rides well, 
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp 

him 
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, 
We are your guest to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. Your servants ever 

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in 

compt, 
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, 
Still to return your own. 

Duncan. Give me your hand ; 

Conduct me to mine host : we love him highly, 
And shall continue our graces towards him. 30 

By your leave, hostess. \Exeunt. 

Scene VII. Macbeth? s castle 

Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer^ and divers Ser- 
vants with dishes and service, and pass over the 
stage. Then enter Macbeth 

Macbeth. If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere 
well 

21. coursed, chased. 22. purveyor, forerunner. 26. in compt, 
accountable. 27. audit, reckoning. Scene VII. Sewer, chief butler. 



Scene vii] Macbeth 73 

It were done quickly : if the assassination 
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, 
With his surcease, success ; that but this blow 
Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 
We'ld jump the life to come., But in these cases 
We still have judgement here ; that we but teach 
Bloody instructions, which being taught return 
To plague the inventor : this even-handed justice 10 
Commends the ingredients of our poison 'd chalice 
To our own lips. He's here in double trust: 
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, 
Strong both against the deed ; then, as his host, 
Who should against his murderer shut the door, 
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan 
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
Will plead like angels trumpet-tongued against 
The deep damnation of his taking-off ; 20 

And pity, like a naked new-born babe, 
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin horsed 
Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, 
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no 

spur 
To prick the sides of my intent, but only 

3. trammel up, entangle as in a net. 7. jump, risk. 8. still, 
always. 8. that, because. II. Commends, presents. 17. facul- 
ties, royal prerogatives. 18. clear, blameless. 25. That, so that. 



74 Macbeth [Act I 

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself 
And falls on the other — 

Enter Lady Macbeth 

How now ! what news ? 

Lady Macbeth. He has almost supp'd : why have 
you left the chamber ? 

Macbeth. Hath he ask'd for me ? 

Lady Macbeth. Know you not he has ? 30 

Macbeth. We will proceed no further in this business : 
He hath honour'd me of late ; and I have bought 
Golden opinions from all sorts of people, 
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, 
Not cast aside so soon. 

Lady Macbeth. Was the hope drunk 

Wherein you dress'd yourself ? hath it slept since ? 
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale 
At what it did so freely ? From this time 
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard 
To be the same in thine own act and valour 40 

As thou art in desire ? Wouldst thou have that 
Which thou esteem 'st the ornament of life, 
And live a coward in thine own esteem, 
Letting ' I dare not ' wait upon ' I would,' 
Like the poor cat i' the adage ? 

Macbeth. Prithee, peace : 

I dare do all that may become a man ; 
Who dares do more is none. 

29. supp'd, finished supper. 32. bought, gained. 



Scene VII] Macbeth 75 

Lady Macbeth. What beast was't then 

That made you break this enterprise to me ? 
When you durst do it, then you were a man ; 
And, to be more than what you were, you would 50 
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place 
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both : 
They have made themselves, and that their fitness 

now 
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know 
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me : 
I would, while it was smiling in my face, 
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, 
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you 
Have done to this. 

Macbeth. If we should fail ? 

Lady Macbeth. We fail ! 

But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 60 

And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep — 
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey 
Soundly invite him — his two chamberlains 
Will I with wine and wassail so convince, 
That memory, the warder of the brain, 
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason 
A limbec only : when in swinish sleep 
Their drenched natures lies as in a death, 

48. break, disclose. 52. adhere, suit. 62. the rather, the earlier. 
63. chamberlains, grooms of the chamber, attendants. 64. was- 
sail, revelry. 64.. convince, overpower. 66. receipt, receptacle. 
67. limbec, alembic, distilling vessel. 



76 Macbeth [Act II 

What cannot you and I perform upon 

The unguarded Duncan ? what not put upon 70 

His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt 

Of our great quell ? 

Macbeth. Bring forth men-children only ; 

For thy undaunted mettle should compose 
Nothing but males. Will it not be received, 
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two 
Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers, 
That they have done't ? 

Lady Macbeth. Who dares receive it other, 

As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar 
Upon his death ? 

Macbeth. I am settled, and bend up 

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 80 

Away, and mock the time with fairest show : 
False face must hide what the false heart doth 

know. \Exeunt. 

ACT II 

Scene I. Inverness. Court of Macbeth' s castle 

Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch before him 

Banquo. How goes the night, boy ? 
Fleance. The moon is down ; I have not heard the 
clock. 

72. quell, murder. 73. mettle, temper. 73. compose, form, give 
birth to. 74. received, accepted as true. 77. other, otherwise. 
79. settled, resolved. 81. time, world. 



Scene i] Macbeth 77 

Banquo. And she goes down at twelve. 
Fleance. I take't, 'tis later, sir. 

Banquo. Hold, take my sword. There 's husbandry 
in heaven, 

f Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. 
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, 
And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, 
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature 
Gives way to in repose ! 

Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch 

Give me my sword. 

Who 's there ? 10 

Macbeth. A friend. 

Banquo. What, sir, not yet at rest ? The king's 
a-bed : 

He hath been in unusual pleasure, and 

Sent forth great largess to your offices : 

This diamond he greets your wife withal, 

By the name of most kind hostess ; and shut up 

In measureless content. 
Macbeth. Being unprepared, 

Our will became the servant to defect, 

Which else should free have wrought. 
Banqico. All's well. 

I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters : 20 

To you they have show'd some truth. 

4. husbandry, frugality, economy. 14. largess, gifts. 14. offices, 
servants' quarters. 



78 Macbeth [Act II 

Macbeth. I think not of them : 

Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve, 
We would spend it in some words upon that 

business, 
If you would grant the time. 

Banquo. At your kind'st leisure. 

Macbeth. If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis, 
It shall make honour for you. 

Banquo. So I lose none 

In seeking to augment it, but still keep 
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, 
I shall be counsell'd. 

Macbeth. Good repose the while ! 

Banquo. Thanks, sir : the like to you ! 30 

[Exeunt Banquo and Fleance. 

Macbeth. Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is 
ready, 
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. 

[Exit Servant. r 
Is this a dagger which I see before me, 
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me 

clutch thee. 
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 
To feeling as to sight ? or art thou but 
A dagger of the mind, a false creation, 

25. cleave to, join. 25. consent, counsel. 28. franchised, free. 
28. clear, unstained. 36. fatal, ominous. 36. sensible, percep- 
tible. 



Scene I] Macbeth 79 

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain ? 

I see thee yet, in form as palpable 40 

As this which now I draw. 

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going ; 

And such an instrument I was to use. 

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other 

senses, 

Or else worth all the rest : I see thee still ; 

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, 

Which was not so before. There's no such 

1 

thing : 
It is the bloody business which informs 
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half- 
world 
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 50 
The curtain'd sleep ; witchcraft celebrates 
Pale Hecate's offerings ; and wither 'd murder, 
Alarum 'd by his sentinel, the wolf, 
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy 

pace, 
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his 

design 
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set 

earth, 
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear 
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, 

42. marshal? st, leadest. 46. dudgeon, handle. 46. gouts, drops. 
48. informs, takes shape. 50. abuse, deceive. 58. whereabout, 
purpose. 



80 Macbeth [Act II 

And take the present horror from the time, 
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he 

lives : 60 

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. 

[A bell rings. 
I go, and it is done : the bell invites me. 
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell 
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell. {Exit. 

Scene II. The same 

Enter Lady Macbeth 

Lady Macbeth. That which hath made them drunk 
hath made me bold ; 
What hath quench 'd them hath given me fire. 

Hark ! Peace ! 
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, 
Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is 

about it: 
The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms 
Do mock their charge with snores : I have 

drugg'd their possets, 
That death and nature do contend about them, 
Whether they live or die. 
Macbeth. [ Within] Who's there ? what, ho ! 

Lady Macbeth. Alack, I am afraid they have awaked 

6. possets, hot drinks containing curdled milk, taken before retir- 
ing. 7. That, so that. 7. nature, life. 



Scene II] Macbeth 81 

And 'tis not done : the attempt and not the deed 10 
Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers 

ready ; 
He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled 
My father as he slept, I had done 't. 

Enter Macbeth 

My husband ! 
Macbeth. I have done the deed. Didst thou not 

hear a noise ? 
Lady Macbeth. I heard the owl scream and the 
crickets cry. 
Did not you speak? 
Macbeth. When ? 

Lady Macbeth. Now. 

Macbeth. As I descended ? 

Lady Macbeth. Ay. 
Macbeth. Hark! 

Who lies i' the second chamber ? 
Lady Macbeth. Donalbain. 

Macbeth. This is a sorry sight. 20 

[Looking 07i his hands. 
Lady Macbeth. A foolish thought, to say a sorry 

sight. 
Macbeth. There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one 
cried ' Murder ! ' 
That they did wake each other : I stood and 
heard them : 

II. Confounds, ruins. 20. sorry, sad. 

MACBETH — 6 



82 Macbeth [Act II 

But they did say their prayers, and address 'd 

them 
Again to sleep. 
Lady Macbeth. There are two lodged together. 

Macbeth. One cried ' God bless us ! ' and ' Amen ' 
the other, 
As they had seen me with these hangman's 

hands : 
Listening their fear I could not say ' Amen,' 
When they did say ' God bless us ! ' 
Lady Macbeth. Consider it not so deeply. 30 

Macbeth. But wherefore could not I pronounce 
' Amen ' ? 
I had most need of blessing, and ' Amen ' 
Stuck in my throat. 
Lady Macbeth. These deeds must not be thought 

After these ways ; so, it will make us mad. 
^Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry ' Sleep no 
more! 
Macbeth does murder sleep ' — the innocent 

sleep, 
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
Chief nourisher in life's feast, — 
Lady Macbeth. What do you mean ? 40 

Macbeth. Still it cried ' Sleep no more ! ' to all the 
house : 

27. As, as if. 37. raveWd, tangled. 37. sleave, floss silk. 



Scene II] Macbeth 83 

'Glamis hath murder'd sleep/ and therefore 

Cawdor 
Shall sleep no more : Macbeth shall sleep no 

more. ^p** *** 

Lady Macbeth. Who was it that thus cried ? Why, 
worthy thane, 
You do unbend your noble strength, to think 
So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, 
And wash this filthy witness from your hand. 
Why did you bring these daggers from the place ? 
They must lie there : go carry them, and smear 
The sleepy grooms with blood. 
Macbeth. I'll go no more : 50 

I am afraid to think what I have done ; 
Look on't again I dare not. 
Lady Macbeth. Infirm of purpose ! 

Give me the daggers : the sleeping and the dead 
Are but as pictures : 'tis the eye of childhood 
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, 
For it must seem their guilt. 

[Exit. Knocking within. 

Macbeth. Whence is that knocking ? 

How is't with me, when every noise appals 

me? 
What hands are here ? ha ! they pluck out mine 

eyes ! 
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 60 

47. witness, evidence. 56. withal, therewith. 



84 Macbeth 

Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will 

rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, 
Making the green one red. 

Re-enter Lady Macbeth 

Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your colour, but I 
shame 
To wear a heart so white. [Knocking within.'] 

I hear a knocking 
At the south entry : retire we to our chamber : 
A little water clears us of this deed : 
How easy is it then ! Your constancy 
Hath left you unattended. [Knocking within.'] 

Hark ! more knocking : 
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us 70 

And show us to be watchers : be not lost 
So poorly in your thoughts. 
Macbeth. To know my deed, 'twere best not know 
myself. [Knocking within. 

Wake Duncan with thy knocking ! I would 
thou couldst ! [Exeunt. 

Scene III. The same 

Enter a Porter. Knocking within 

Porter. Here's a knocking indeed ! If a man were 
porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning 

62. incarnadine, dye red. 70. nightgown, dressing-gown. 

72. poorly, dejectedly. 2. old, plenty of. 



Scene in] Macbeth 85 

the key. [Knocking within.'] Knock, knock, 
knock ! Who's there, i' the name of Beelzebub ? 
Here 's a farmer, that hanged himself on th' ex- 
pectation of plenty : come in time ; have napkins 
enow about you ; here you'll sweat for't. [Knock- 
ing within.] Knock, knock! Who's there, in 
th' other devil's name ? Faith, here's an equivo- 
cator, that could swear in both the scales against 10 
either scale ; who committed treason enough for 
God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven : 
O, come in, equivocator. [Knocking within?^ 
Knock, knock, knock ! W T ho's there ? Faith, 
here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing 
out of a French hose : come in, tailor ; here you 
may roast your goose. [K710 eking withi?i^] Knock, 
knock ; never at quiet ! What are you? But this 
place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no 
further : I had thought to have let in some of 20 
all professions, that go the primrose way to the 
everlasting bonfire. [Kiocking withi?i.] Anon, 
anon ! I pray you, remember the porter. 

[ Opens the gate. 

E?iter Macduff and Lennox 

Macduff. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to 
bed, 
That you do lie so late ? 

6. napkins, handkerchiefs. 7. enow, enough. 17. goose, tailor's 
smoothing-iron. 



86 Macbeth [Act II 

Porter. Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second 
cock. 

Macduff. I believe drink gave thee the lie last 
night. 42 

Porter. That it did, sir, i' the very throat on me : 
but I requited him for his lie, and, I think, 
being too strong for him, though he took up my 
leg sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him. 

Macduff. Is thy master stirring ? 

Enter Macbeth 

Our knocking has awaked him ; here he comes. 
Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir. 
Macbeth. Good morrow, both. 

Macduff. Is the king stirring, worthy thane ? 
Macbeth. Not yet. 50 

Macduff. He did command me to call timely on 
him : 

I had almost slipp'd the hour. 
Macbeth. I'll bring you to him. 

Macduff. I know this is a joyful trouble to you ; 

But yet 'tis one. 
Macbeth. The labour we delight in physics pain. 

This is the door. 
Macduff. I'll make so bold to call, 

For 'tis my limited service. \Exit. 

27. cock, cock-crow. 51. timely, early. 55. physics, cures. 
57. li??iited, appointed. 



Scene III] Macbeth 87 

Lennox. Goes the king hence to-day ? 
Macbeth. He does : he did appoint so. 

Lennox. The night has been unruly : where we lay, 
Our chimneys were blown down, and, as they 

say, 60 

Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of 

death, 
And prophesying with accents terrible 
Of dire combustion and confused events 
New hatch'd to the woful time : the obscure bird 
Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the 

earth 
Was feverous and did shake. 
Macbeth. 'Twas a rough night. 

Lennox. My young remembrance cannot parallel 
A fellow to it. 

Re-enter Macduff 

Macduff. O horror, horror, horror ! Tongue nor 

heart 

Cannot conceive nor name thee. 

Macbeth. ) 

y What s the matter ? 70 

Lennox. ) 

Macduff. Confusion now hath made his master- 
piece. 
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope 
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence 
The life o' the building. 

63. combustion, social uproar. 71. Confusion, destruction. 



88 Macbeth [Act n 

Macbeth. What is't you say ? the life ? 

Lennox. Mean you his majesty ? 
Macduff. Approach the chamber, and destroy your 
sight 
With a new Gorgon : do not bid me speak ; 
See, and then speak yourselves. 

[Exeunt Macbeth and Lemiox. 
Awake, awake ! 
Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and treason ! 
Banquo and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake ! 80 

Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
And look on death itself ! up, up, and see 
The great doom's image ! Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
As from your graves rise up, and walk like 

sprites, 
To countenance this horror. Ring the bell. 

[Bell rings. 

Enter Lady Macbeth 

Lady Macbeth. What's the business, 

That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley 
The sleepers of the house ? speak, speak ! 

Macduff. O gentle lady, 

'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak : 
The repetition, in a woman's ear, 9° 

Would murder as it fell. 

84. sprites, spirits, ghosts. 85. countenance, be in keeping with. 
90. repetition, recital. 



Scene III] Macbeth 89 



Enter Banquo 

O Banquo, Banquo! 

Our royal master's murder'd. 
Lady Macbeth. Woe, alas ! 

What, in our house ? 
Banquo. Too cruel any where. 

Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, 

And say it is not so. 

Re-enter Macbeth and Lennox, with Ross 

Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this 

chance, 
I had lived a blessed time ; for from this 

instant 
There's nothing serious in mortality : 
All is but toys : renown and grace is dead ; 
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 1 
Is left this vault to brag of. 

Enter Malcolm and Donalbain 

Donalbain. What is amiss ? 

Macbeth. You are, and do not know't : 

The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood 
Is stopp'd ; the very source of it is stopp'd. 

Macduff. Your royal father's murder'd. 

Malcolm. O, by whom ? 

96. chance, event. 98. mortality, mortal life. 99. toys, trifles. 



90 Macbeth [Act n 

Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had 

done 't : 
Their hands and faces were all badged with 

blood ; 
So were their daggers, which un wiped we found 
Upon their pillows : 
They stared, and were distracted ; no man's 

life no 

Was to be trusted with them. 
Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, 

That I did kill them. 
Macduff. Wherefore did you so ? 

Macbeth. Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and 

furious, 
Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? No man : 
The expedition of my violent love 
Outrun the pauser reason. Here lay Duncan, 
His silver skin laced with his golden blood, 
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in 

nature 
For ruin's wasteful entrance : there, the mur- 
derers, 120 
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their 

daggers 
Unmannerly breech'd with gore : who could 

refrain, 

107. badged, marked as with a badge. 114. amazed, dazed. 
116. expedition, haste. 118. laced, ornamented as with lace, 

120. wasteful, wasting, devastating. 



Scene ill] Macbeth 91 

That had a heart to love, and in that heart 

Courage to make's love known ? 
Lady Macbeth. Help me hence, ho ! \_She faints. 
Macduff. Look to the lady. 

Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain~\ Why do we hold 
our tongues, 

That most may claim this argument for ours ? 
Donalbai7i. [Aside to Malcolm] What should be 
spoken here, where our fate, 

Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us ? 

Let us away ; our tears are not yet brew'd. 
Malcolm. [Aside to Do7ialbain] Nor our strong 

sorrow upon the foot of motion. 130 

Banquo. Look to the lady : 

[Lady Macbeth is carried out. 

And when we have our naked frailties hid, 

That suffer in exposure, let us meet, 

And question this most bloody piece of work, 

To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us : 

In the great hand of God I stand, and thence 

Against the undivulged pretence I fight 

Of treasonous malice. 
Macduff. And so do I. 

All. So all. 

Macbeth. Let's briefly put on manly readiness, 

And meet i' the hall together. 

124. make's, make his. 126. argument, theme for speech. 

134. question, investigate. 135. scruples, doubts. 137. pretence, 
intention. 139. briefly, quickly. 



92 Macbeth [Act II 

All. Well contented. 140 

\Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain. 
Malcolm. What will you do ? Let's not consort 
with them : 
To show an imfelt sorrow is an office 
Which the false man does easy. I'll to England. 
Donalbain. To Ireland, I ; our separated fortune 
Shall keep us both the safer : where we are 
There's daggers in men's smiles : the near in 

blood, 
The nearer bloody. 
Malcolm. This murderous shaft that's shot 

Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way 
Is to avoid the aim. Therefore to horse ; 
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, 150 

But shift away : there's warrant in that theft 
Which steals itself when there's no mercy left. 

\_Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Outside Macbeth 's castle 

E?iter Ross with an Old Man 

Old Man. Threescore and ten I can remember well : 
Within the volume of which time I have seen 
Hours dreadful and things strange, but this 

sore night 
Hath trifled former knowings. 

142. office, duty. 150. dainty, particular. 151. shift, steal. 
3. sore, sad. 



Scene IV] ■ Macbeth 93 

Ross, Ah, good father, 

Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's 

act, 
Threatens his bloody stage : by the clock 'tis 

day, 
And yet dark night strangles the travelling 

lamp: 
Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame, 
That darkness does the face of earth entomb, 
When living light should kiss it ? 
Old Man. 'Tis unnatural, 10 

Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday 

last 
A falcon towering in her pride of place 
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd. 
Ross. And Duncan's horses — a thing most strange 

and certain — 
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung 

out, 
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would 

make 
War with mankind. 
Old Man. 'Tis said they eat each other. 

Ross. They did so, to the amazement of mine 

eyes, 
That look'd upon't. 

8. predominance, astrological influence. 16. flung out, rushed 
out. 17. as, as if. 



94 Macbeth [Act II 



Enter Macduff 

Here comes the good Macduff. 20 

How goes the world, sir, now ? 
Macduff. Why, see you not ? 

Ross. Is't known who did this more than bloody 

deed? 
Macduff. Those that Macbeth hath slain. 
Ross. Alas, the day ! 

What good could they pretend ? 
Macduff. They were suborn 'd : 

Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons, 

Are stol'n away and fled, which puts upon them 

Suspicion of the deed. 
Ross. 'Gainst nature still : 

Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up 

Thine own life's means ! Then 'tis most like 

The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. 30 

Macduff. He is already named, and gone to Scone 

To be invested. 
Ross. Where is Duncan's body ? 

Macduff. Carried to Colme-kill, 

The sacred storehouse of his predecessors 

And guardian of their bones. 
Ross. ' Will you to Scone ? 

Macduff. No, cousin, I'll to Fife. 

24. pretend, intend. 24. suborned, instigated. 28. Thriftless, 
prodigal. 28. ravin, devour, 32. invested, formally crowned. 
34. storehouse, burying-place. 



Scene I] Macbeth 95 

Ross. Well, I will thither. 

Macduff. Well, may you see things well done 
there : adieu ! 
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new ! 
Ross. Farewell, father. 
Old Man. God's benison go with you, and with 

those 40 

That would make good of bad and friends of 
foes ! [Exeunt. 



ACT III 

Scene I. Forres. The palace 

Enter Banquo 

Banquo. Thou hast it now : king, Cawdor, Glamis, 

all, 
As the weird women promised, and I fear 
Thou play'dst most foully for't : yet it was said 
It should not stand in thy posterity, 
. But that myself should be the root and father 
Of many kings. If there come truth from 

them — 
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine — 
Why, by the verities on thee made good, 
May they not be my oracles as well 
And set me up in hope ? But hush, no more. 

40. benison, blessing. 7. shine, are brilliantly fulfilled. 



96 Macbeth [Act III 

Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth, as king ; Lady Mac- 
beth, Lennox, Ross, Lords, and Attendants 

Macbeth. Here's our chief guest. 

Lady Macbeth. If he had been forgotten, 

It had been as a gap in our great feast, 

And all-thing unbecoming. 
Macbeth. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, 

And I'll request your presence. 
Banquo. Let your highness 

Command upon me, to the which my duties 

Are with a most indissoluble tie 

For ever knit. 
Macbeth. Ride you this afternoon ? 

Ba7iquo. Ay, my good lord. 20 

Macbeth. We should have else desired your good 
advice, 

Which still hath been both grave and prosper- 
ous, 

In this day's council ; but we'll take to-morrow. 

Is't far you ride ? 
Banquo. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time 

'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the 
better, 

I must become a borrower of the night 

For a dark hour or twain. 
Macbeth. Fail not our feast. 

Banquo. My lord, I will not. 

13. all-thing, altogether. 14. solemn, formal. 



Scene I] Macbeth 97 

Macbeth. We hear our bloody cousins are bestow'd 30 
In England and in Ireland, not confessing 
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers 
With strange invention : but of that to-morrow, 
When therewithal we shall have cause of state 
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse : adieu, 
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with 
you? 

Banquo. Ay, my good lord : our time does call upon's. 

Macbeth. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot, 
And so I do commend you to their backs. 
Farewell. [Exit Banquo. 40 

Let every man be master of his time 
Till seven at night ; to make society 
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself 
Till supper-time alone : while then, God be with 
you! 
[Exeunt all but Macbeth and an Attendant. 
Sirrah, 
A word with you : attend those men our pleasure ? 

Attendant. They are, my lord, without the palace- 
gate. 

Macbeth. Bring them before us. [Exit Attendant. 

To be thus is nothing ; 
But to be safely thus : our fears in Banquo 
Stick deep ; and in his royalty of nature 50 

30. bestow'd, settled. 34. therewithal, in addition thereto. 
34. cause, subject-matter. 39. commend, commit. 44. while, 
till. 45. sirrah, fellow. 

MACBETH — 7 



98 Macbeth [Act III 

Reigns that which would be fear'd : 'tis much he 

dares, 
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, 
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour 
To act in safety. There is none but he 
Whose being I do fear : and under him 
My Genius is rebuked, as it is said 
Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the 

sisters, 
When first they put the name of king upon me, 
And bade them speak to him ; then prophet- 
like 
They hail'd him father to a line of kings : 60 

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown 
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, 
Thence to be wrench 'd with an unlineal hand, 
No son of mine succeeding. If't be so, 
For Ban quo 's issue have I filed my mind ; 
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd ; 
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace 
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel 
Given to the common enemy of man, 
To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings ! 70 
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, 
And champion me to the utterance ! Who's 
there ? 

52. to, in addition to. 56. Genius, presiding spirit. 56. rebuked, 
checked, restrained. 63. with, by. 65. filed, defiled. 71. fate, 
death. 



Scene I] Macbeth 99 

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers 

Now go to the door, and stay there till we call. 

\_Exit Attendant. 
Was it not yesterday we spoke together ? 

First Murderer. It was, so please your highness. 

Macbeth. Well then, now 

Have you consider'd of my speeches ? Know 
That it was he in the times past which held you 
So under fortune, which you thought had been 
Our innocent self : this I made good to you 
In our last conference, pass'd in probation with 

you, 80 

How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the 

instruments, 
Who wrought with them, and all things else that 

might 
To half a soul and to a notion crazed 
Say ' Thus did Ban quo.' 

First Murderer. You made it known to us. 

Macbeth. I did so ; and went further, which is now 
Our point of second meeting. Do you find 
Your patience so predominant in your nature, 
That you can let this go ? Are you so gospell'd, 
To pray for this good man and for his issue, 

79. made good, showed clearly. 80. probation, proving. 81. borne 
in hand, deceived by false promises. 81. cross'd, thwarted. 

83. notion, mind. 88. gospelPd, full of the spirit of the 
gospel. 



LtiC. 



ioo Macbeth [Act in 

Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave 90 
And beggar'd yours for ever ? 

First Murderer. We are men, my liege. 

Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ; 

As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, 

curs, 
Shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are clept 
All by the name of dogs : the valued file 
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, 
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one 
According to the gift which bounteous nature 
Hath in him closed, whereby he does receive 
Particular addition, from the bill 100 

That writes them all alike : and so of men. 
Now if you have a station in the file, 
Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say't, 
And I will put that business in your bosoms 
Whose execution takes your enemy off, 
Grapples you to the heart and love of us, 
Who wear our health but sickly in his life, 
Which in his death were perfect. 

Second Murderer. I am one, my liege, 

Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world 
Hath so incensed that I am reckless what no 

I do to spite the world. 

First Murderer. And I another 

94. Shoughs, shock dogs. 94. water -rugs, poodles. 94. demi- 
wolves, crosses between a dog and a wolf. 94. clept, called. 
97. housekeeper, watch-dog. 105. execution, performance. 



Scene I] Macbeth 101 

So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune, 
That I would set my life on any chance, 
To mend it or be rid on't. 

Macbeth. Both of you 

Know Banquo was your enemy. 

Both Murderers. True, my lord. 

Macbeth. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance 
That every minute of his being thrusts 
Against my near'st of life : and though I could 
With barefaced power sweep him from my sight 
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, 120 

For certain friends that are both his and mine, 
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall 
Who I myself struck down : and thence it is 
That I to your assistance do make love, 
Masking the business from the common eye 
For sundry weighty reasons. 

Second Murderer. We shall, my lord, 

Perform what you command us. 

First Murderer. Though our lives — 

Macbeth. Your spirits shine through you. Within 
this hour at most 
I will advise you where to plant yourselves, 
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time, 130 
The moment on't ; for't must be done to-night, 
And something from the palace ; always thought 

112. tugg'd with, hauled about by. 116. distance, enmity. 
119. barefaced, open. 121. For, on account of. 132. something 
from, some distance away from. 132. thought, borne in mind. 



102 Macbeth [Act III 

That I require a clearness : and with him — 
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work — 
Fleance his son, that keeps him company, 
Whose absence is no less material to me 
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate 
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart : 
I'll come to you anon. 

Both Murderers. We are resolved, my lord. 

Macbeth. I'll call upon you straight : abide within. 140 

\Exeunt Murderers. 
It is concluded : Banquo, thy soul's flight, 
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. 

[Exit. 

Scene II. The palace 

I 

Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant 

Lady Macbeth. Is Banquo gone from court ? 

Servant. Ay, madam, but returns again to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. Say to the king, I would attend his 
leisure 
For a few words. 

Servant. Madam, I will. [Exit. 

Lady Macbeth. Nought's had, all's spent, 

Where our desire is got without content : 
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy 
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. 

134. rubs, rough places. 136. material, important. 140. straight, 
straightway. 



Scene II] Macbeth 103 



Enter Macbeth 

How now, my lord ! why do you keep alone, 
Of sorriest fancies your companions making ; 
Using those thoughts which should indeed have 

died 10 

With them they think on ? Things without all 

remedy 
Should be without regard : what's done is done. 
Macbeth. We have scorch'd the snake, not kill'd 

it: 
She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor 

malice 
Remains in danger of her former tooth. 
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the 

worlds suffer, 
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep 
In the affliction of these terrible dreams 
That shake us nightly : better be with the dead, 
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, 20 
Than on the torture of the mind to lie -** 
In restless ecstasy. ' Duncan is in his grave p 
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well ; 
Treason has done his worst : nor steel, nor 

poison, 
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, 
Can touch him further. — •"" 

9. sorriest, most dismal. 10. Using, cherishing. 13. scorched, 
hacked. 22. ecstasy, madness. 25. levy, army. 



104 Macbeth [Act III 

Lady Macbeth. Come on ; 

Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks ; 
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night. 
Macbeth. So shall I, love ; and so, I pray, be 
you : 
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo ; 30 

Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue : 
Unsafe the while, that we 
Must lave our honours in these flattering 

streams, 
And make our faces visards to our hearts, 
Disguising what they are. 
Lady Macbeth. You must leave this. 

Macbeth. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife ! 
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, 
lives. 
Lady Macbeth. But in them nature's copy's not 

eterne. 
Macbeth. There's comfort yet ; they are assailable ; 
Then be thou jocund : ere the bat hath flown 40 
His cloister'd flight ; ere to black Hecate's sum- 
mons 
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums 
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be 

done 
A deed of dreadful note. 

26. Come on, hold, enough. 34. visards, masks. 38. copy, 
lease. 41. to, in obedience to. 42. shard-borne, borne on scaly- 
wings. 43. yawning, drowsy. 44. note, notoriety. 



Scene in] Macbeth 105 

Lady Macbeth. What's to be done ? 

Macbeth. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest 

chuck, 
Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling 

night, 
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, 
And with thy bloody and invisible hand 
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond 
Which keeps me pale ! Light thickens, and the 

crow 50 

Makes wing to the rooky wood : 
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, 
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do 

rouse. 
Thou marvell'st at my words : but hold thee 

still ; 
Things bad begun make strong themselves by 

ill: 
So, prithee, go with me. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. A park near the palace 

Enter three Murderers 

First Murderer. But who did bid thee join with us ? 
Third Murderer. Macbeth. 

Second Murderer. He needs not our mistrust ; since 
he delivers 

45. chuck, darling. 46. seeling, blinding. 51. rooky, frequented 
by rooks. 2. delivers, reports. 



106 Macbeth [Act III 

Our offices, and what we have to do, 

To the direction just. 
First Murderer. Then stand with us. 

The west yet glimmers with some streaks of 
day : 

Now spurs the lated traveller apace 

To gain the timely inn, and near approaches 

The subject of our watch. 
Third Murderer. Hark ! I hear horses. 

Banquo. [ Within\ Give us a light there, ho ! 
Second Murderer. Then 'tis he : the rest 

That are within the note of expectation 10 

Already are i' the court. 
First Murderer. His horses go about. 

Third Murderer. Almost a mile : but he does usu- 
ally— 

So all men do — from hence to the palace gate 

Make it their walk. 
Second Murderer. A light, a light ! 

Filter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch 

Third Murderer. 'Tis he. 

First Murderer. Stand to't. 
Banquo. It will be rain to-night. 
First Murderer. Let it come down. 

[ They set upon Banquo. 

3. offices, business. 7. timely, appropriate to the time, welcome. 
II. about, the long way around. 



Scene IV] Macbeth 1 07 

Banquo. O, treachery ! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly ! 
Thou mayst revenge. O slave ! 

[Dies. Fleance escapes. 
Third Murderer. Who did strike out the light ! 
First Murderer. Was't not the way ? 

Third Murderer. There's but one down ; the son 

is fled. 
Second Murderer. We have lost 20 

Best half of our affair. 
First Murderer. Well, let's away and say how much 
is done. \Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Hall in the palace 

A banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, 
Ross, Lennox, Lords, and Attendants 

Macbeth. You know your own degrees ; sit down 
at first 

And last a hearty welcome. 
Lords. Thanks to your majesty. 

Macbeth. Ourself will mingle with society 

And play the humble host. 

Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time 

We will require her welcome. 
Lady Macbeth. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our 
friends, 

For my heart speaks they are welcome. 

1. degrees, ranks. 3. Ourself, we (the royal plural). 6. require, 
ask for. 



108 Macbeth [Act m 

Enter first Murderer to the door 

Macbeth. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' 
thanks. 
Both sides are even : here I'll sit i' the midst : 10 
Be large in mirth ; anon we'll drink a measure 
The table round. [Approaching the door~\ There's 
blood upon thy face. 
Murderer. 'Tis Banquo's then. 
Macbeth. 'Tis better thee without than he within. 

Is he dispatch'd ? 
Murderer. My lord, his throat is cut ; that I did 

for him. 
Macbeth. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats : yet 
he's good 
That did the like for Fleance : if thou didst it, 
Thou art the nonpareil. 
Murderer. Most royal sir, 

Fleance is 'scaped. 20 

Macbeth. [Aside] Then comes my fit again : I had 
else been perfect, 
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, 
As broad and general as the casing air : 
But now I am cabin 'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in 
To saucy doubts and fears. — But Banquo's 
safe ? 

11. large, unrestrained. II. anon, soon. 22. founded, firmly 
based. 23. general, free to go everywhere. 23. casing, envelop- 
ing. 25. saucy, insolent. 



Scene IV] Macbeth 109 

Murderer. Ay, my good lord : safe in a ditch he bides , 
With twenty trenched gashes on his head ; 
The least a death to nature. 
Macbeth. Thanks for that. 

[Aside] There the grown serpent lies ; the 

worm that's fled 
Hath nature that in time will venom breed, 30 

No teeth for the present. Get thee gone : to- 
morrow 
We'll hear ourselves again. [Exit Murderer. 
Lady Macbeth. My royal lord, 

You do not give the cheer : the feast is sold 
That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a-making, 
'Tis given with welcome : to feed were best at 

home ; 
From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony ; 
Meeting were bare without it. 
Macbeth. Sweet remembrancer ! 

Now good digestion wait on appetite, 
And health on both ! 
Lennox. May't please your highness sit. 

[The Ghost of Banquo enters, and sits 
in Macbeth' s place. 
Macbeth. Here had we now our country's honour 

roof'd, 40 

Were the graced person of our Banquo present ; 

27. trenched, carved. 29. worm, snake. 33. cheer, welcome. 
37. Meeting, a formal gathering. 40. roofd, under one roof. 
41. graced, gracious. 



no Macbeth [Act m 

Who may I rather challenge for unkindness 

Than pity for mischance ! 
Ross. His absence, sir, 

Lays blame upon his promise. Please't your 
highness 

To grace us with your royal company ? 
Macbeth. The table's full. 

Lennox. Here is a place reserved, sir. 

Macbeth. Where? 
Lennox. Here, my good lord. What is't that 

moves your highness ? 
Macbeth. Which of you have done this ? 
Lords. What, my good lord ? 

Macbeth. "Thou canst not say I did it : never shake 50 

Thy gory locks at me. 
Ross. Gentlemen, rise ; his highness is not well. 
Lady Macbeth. Sit, worthy friends : my lord is often 
thus, 

And hath been from his youth : pray you, keep 
seat ; 

The fit is momentary ; upon a thought 

He will again be well : if much you note him, 

You shall offend him and extend his passion : 

Feed, and regard him not. [To Macbeth] Are 
you a man ? 
Macbeth. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that 

Which might appal the devil. 

48. moves, excites. 56. note, pay attention to. 57. passion^ 
suffering, 



Scene IV] Macbeth 1 1 1 

Lady Macbeth. O proper stuff ! 60 

This is the very painting of your fear : 
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, 
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, 
Impostors to true fear, would well become 
A woman's story at a winter's fire, 
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself ! 
Why do you make such faces ? When all's 

done, 
You look but on a stool. 

Macbeth. Prithee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! 
how say you? 
Why, what care I ? If thou canst nod, speak 

too. " 70 

If charnel-houses and our graves must send 
Those that we bury back, our monuments 
Shall be the maws of kites. [Exit Ghost. 

Lady Macbeth. » What, quite unmann'd in folly ? 

Macbeth. If I stand here, I saw him. 

Lady Macbeth. Fie, for shame ! 

Macbeth. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the 
olden time, 
Ere humane statute purged the gentle weal ; 
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd 
Too terrible for the ear : the times has been, 

60. proper, fine. 62. air-drawn, drawn in the air, imaginary. 
63. flaws, outbursts. 64. beco?ne, suit. 68. stool, chair. 

71. charnel-houses, places where the bones of the dead are stored. 

72. monuments, tombs. • 



H2 Macbeth [Act in 

That, when the brains were out, the man would 

die, 
And there an end ; but now they rise again, So 

With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, 
And push us from our stools : this is more 

strange 
Than such a murder is. 

Lady Macbeth. My worthy lord, 

Your noble friends do lack you. 

Macbeth. I do forget. 

Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends ; 
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing 
To those that know me. Come, love and health 

to all ; 
Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine, fill full. 
I drink to the general joy o' the whole table, 
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ; 90 
Would he were here ! to all and him we thirst, 
And all to all. 

Lords. Our duties, and the pledge. 

Re-enter Ghost 

Macbeth. Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! let the earth 
hide thee ! 
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold ; 
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 
Which thou dost glare with. 

81. mortal murders, deadly wounds. 85. muse, wonder. 

95. speculation, power of sight. 



Scene ivj Macbeth 113 

Lady Macbeth. Think of this, good peers, 

But as a thing of custom : 'tis no other ; 
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. 

Macbeth. What man dare, I dare : 

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 100 
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger ; 
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves 
Shall never tremble : or be alive again, 
And dare me to the desert with thy sword ; 
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow ! 
Unreal mockery, hence ! [Exit Ghost. 

Why, so : being gone, 
I am a man again. [The Lords rise.'] Pray you, 
sit still. 

Lady Macbeth. You have displaced the mirth, broke 
the good meeting, 
With most admired disorder. 

Macbeth. Can such things be, no 

And overcome us like a summer's cloud, 
Without our special wonder ? You make me 

strange 
Even to the disposition that I owe, 
When now I think you can behold such sights, 
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 
When mine is blanch 'd with fear. 

102. nerves, muscles. 105. protest, declare. 109. displaced, 
driven away. no. admired, amazing. in. overcome, pass over. 
113. disposition, character. 113. owe, own, possess. 

MACBETH — 8 



H4 Macbeth [Act in 

J?oss. What sights, my lord ? 

Lady Macbeth. I pray you, speak not; he grows 
worse and worse ; 
Question enrages him : at once, good night : 
Stand not upon the order of your going, 
But go at once. 
Lennox. Good night ; and better health 120 

Attend his majesty ! 

Lady Macbeth. A kind good night to all ! 

[Exeunt all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 

Macbeth. It will have blood, they say : blood will 

have blood : 

Stones have been known to move and trees to 

speak ; 
Augures and understood relations have 
By maggot-pies and choughs and rooks brought 

forth 
The secret'st man of blood. What is the night ? 
Lady Macbeth. Almost at odds with morning, which 

is which. 
Macbeth. How say'st thou that Macduff denies his 
person 
At our great bidding ? 
Lady Macbeth. Did you send to him, sir ? 

Macbeth. I hear it by the way, but I will send : 130 

There's not a one of them but in his house 

118. enrages, maddens. 124. Augures, auguries. 125. mag- 
got-pies, magpies. 125. choughs, jack-daws. 125. brought forth, 
revealed. 130. by the way, by chance. 



Scene V] Macbeth 115 

I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, 

And betimes I will, to the weird sisters : 

More shall they speak, for now I am bent to 

know, 
By the worst means, the worst. .For mine own 

good 
All causes shall give way : I am in blood 
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, 
Returning were as tedious as go o'er : 
Strange things I have in head that will to hand, 
Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd. 140 
Lady Macbeth. You lack the season of all natures, 

sleep. 
Macbeth. Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and 

self-abuse 
Is the initiate fear that wants hard use : 
We are yet but young in deed. [Exeunt. 

Scene V. A heath 

Thunder. Enter the three Witches, meeting Hecate 

First Witch. Why, how now, Hecate ! you look 

angerly. 
Hecate. Have I not reason, beldams as you are ? 

Saucy and over-bold, how did you dare 

To trade and traffic with Macbeth 

136. causes, considerations. 140. scann'd, closely examined. 
141. the season, the seasoning, the preservative. 142. self-abuse, 
self-deception. 143. wants, lacks. 2. beldams, hags. 



n6 Macbeth [Act m 

In riddles and affairs of death ; 

And I, the mistress of your charms, 

The close contriver of all harms, 

Was never call'd to bear my part, 

Or show the glory of our art ? 

And, which is worse, all you have done 10 

Hath been but for a wayward son, 

Spiteful and wrathful ; who, as others do, 

Loves for his own ends, not for you. 

But make amends now : get you gone, 

And at the pit of Acheron 

Meet me i' the morning : thither he 

Will come to know his destiny : 

Your vessels and your spells provide, 

Your charms and every thing beside. 

I am for th' air ; this night I'll spend 20 

Unto a dismal and a fatal end : 

Great business must be wrought ere noon : 

Upon the corner of the moon 

There hangs a vaporous drop profound ; 

I'll catch it ere it come to ground : 

And that distill'd by magic sleights 

Shall raise such artificial sprites 

As by the strength of their illusion 

Shall draw him on to his confusion : 

He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear 30 

His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear : 

7. close contriver, secret plotter. 24. profound, ready to fall. 
26. sleights, devices. 




Scene VI] Macbeth 117 

And you all know security 
Is mortals' chief est enemy. 

[Music and a song. 

Hark ! I am call'd ; my little spirit, see, 

Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Exit. 

[Song within : ' Come away, come away, ' etc. 

First Witch. Come, let's make haste ; she'll soon 

be back again. [Exeunt. 

Scene VI. Forres. The palace 

Enter Lennox and another Lord 

Lennox. My former speeches have but hit your 

thoughts, 
Which can interpret farther : only I say 
Things have been strangely borne. The 

gracious Duncan 
Was pitied of Macbeth : marry, he was dead : 
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late ; 
Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance 

kill'd, 
For Fleance fled : men must not walk too late. 
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous 
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain 
To kill their gracious father ? damned fact ! 10 

How it did grieve Macbeth ! did he not straight, 
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear, 

32. security, confidence. I. hit, agreed with. 3. borne, man- 
aged. 4. of, by. 8. want,\a.ck. 10. fact, deed. 1 2. tear, mangle. 



Il8 Macbeth [Act III 

That were the slaves of drink and thralls of 

sleep ? 
Was not that nobly done ? Ay, and wisely 

too ; 
For t'would have anger'd any heart alive 
To hear the men deny't. So that, I say, 
He has borne all things well : and I do think 
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key — 
As, and't please heaven, he shall not — they 

should find 
What 'twere to kill a father ; so should Fleance. 20 
But, peace ! for from broad words, and 'cause 

he fail'd 
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear, 
Macduff lives in disgrace : sir, can you tell 
Where he bestows himself ? 
Lord. The son of Duncan, 

From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, 
Lives in the English court, and is received 
Of the most pious Edward with such grace 
That the malevolence of fortune nothing 
Takes from his high respect. Thither Macduff 

is gone 
To pray the holy king, upon his aid 30 

To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward : 
That by the help of these, with Him above 
To ratify the work, we may again 

21. from, on account of. 21. broad, frank. 21. faiPd, refused. 
25. holds, withholds. 31. wake, call to arms. 33. ratify, sanction. 



Scene vi] Macbeth 119 

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, 
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody 

knives, 
Do faithful homage and receive free honours : 
All which we pine for now : and this report 
Hath so exasperate their king that he 
Prepares for some attempt of war. 

Lennox. Sent he to Macduff ? 

Lord. He did : and with an absolute ' Sir, not I,' 40 
The cloudy messenger turns me his back, 
And hums, as who should say ' You'll rue the 

time 
That clogs me with this answer.' 

Lennox. And that well might 

Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance 
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel 
Fly to the court of England and unfold 
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing 
May soon return to this our suffering country 
Under a hand accursed ! 

Lord. I'll send my prayers with him. 

\Exeunt. 
40. absolute, positive. 41. cloudy, sullen. 46. unfold, tell. 



120 Macbeth [Act IV 

ACT IV 

Scene I. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron 

Thunder. Enter the three Witches 

First Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 
Second Witch. Thrice and once the hedge-pig 

whined. 
Third Witch. Harpier cries ' 'Tis time, 'tis time.' 
First Witch. Round about the cauldron go : 

In the poison 'd entrails throw. 

Toad, that under cold stone 

Days and nights has thirty one 

Swelter'd venom sleeping got, 

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. 
All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 10 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
Second Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, 

In the cauldron boil and bake ; 

Eye of newt and toe of frog, 

Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, 

Lizard's leg and how let's wing, 

For a charm of powerful trouble, 

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 
All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 20 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 

1. brinded, brindled. 2. hedge-pig, hedgehog. 3. Harpier, 
harpy. 16. fork, forked tongue. 17. howlet, a little owl. 



Scene i] Macbeth 121 

Third Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, 

Witches' mummy, maw and gulf 

Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, 

Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, 

Liver of blaspheming Jew, 

Gall of goat and slips of yew 

Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse, 

Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, 

Finger of birth -strangled babe 30 

Ditch-deliver 'd by a drab, 

Make the gruel thick and slab : 

Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, 

For the ingredients of our cauldron. 
All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
Second Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, 

Then the charm is firm and good. 

Enter Hecate and the other three Witches 

Hecate. O, well done ! I commend your pains ; 

And every one shall share i' the gains : 40 

And now about the cauldron sing, 
Like elves and fairies in a ring, 
Enchanting all that you put in. 

[Music and a song : ' Black spirits? etc. 

\_Hecate retires. 
Second Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, 

2 3- g u tfi gullet. 24. ravin' 'd, gorged with prey. 31. Ditch-de- 
liver 'd, born in a ditch. 32. slab, slimy. 23- chaudron, entrails. 



122 Macbeth [Act iv 

Something wicked this way comes : 
Open, locks. 
Whoever knocks ! 

Enter Macbeth 

Macbeth. How now, you secret, black, and midnight 
hags ! 
What is't you. do ? 

All. A deed without a name. 

Macbeth. I conjure you, by that which you profess, 50 
Howe'er you came to know it, answer me : 
Though you untie the winds and let them fight 
Against the churches ; though the yesty waves 
Confound and swallow navigation up ; 
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown 

down ; 
Though castles topple on their warders' heads ; 
Though palaces and pyramids do slope 
Their heads to their foundations ; though the 

treasure 
Of nature's germens tumble all together, 
Even till destruction sicken ; answer me 60 

To what I ask you. v 

First Witch. Speak. 

Second Witch. Demand. 

50. profess, make claim to know. 53. yesty, frothy, like yeast. 

54. navigation, ships. 55. bladed corn, corn in the green ear. 

55. lodged, beaten down. 57. pyramids, towers, or steeples. 
59. germens, seeds of life. 



Scene I] Macbeth 123 

Third Witch. We'll answer. 

First Witch. Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our 
mouths, 

Or from our masters ? 
Macbeth. Call 'em, let me see 'em. 

First Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten 

Her nine farrow ; grease that's sweaten 

From the murderer's gibbet throw 

Into the flame. 
All. Come, high or low ; 

Thyself and office deftly show ! 

Thunder. First Apparition : an armed Head 

Macbeth. Tell me, thou unknown power, — 

First Witch. He knows thy thought : 

Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 70 

First Apparition. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! 
beware Macduff ; 
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me : enough. 

[Descends. 
Macbeth. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution 
thanks ; 
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright : but one word 
more, — 
First Witch. He will not be commanded : here's 
another, 
More potent than the first. 

65. nine farrow, litter of nine. 68. deftly, fitly. 74. harfd, 
touched. 



124 Macbeth [Act IV 

Thunder. Second Apparition: a bloody Child 

Second Apparition. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! 

Macbeth. Had I three ears, I 'Id hear thee. 

Second Apparition. Be bloody, bold and resolute ; 
laugh to scorn 
The power of man, for none of woman born . 80 
Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends. 

Macbeth. Then live, Macduff : what need I fear of 
thee? 
But yet I'll make assurance double sure, 
And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live ; 
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 
And sleep in spite of thunder. 

Thunder. Third Apparition : a Child crowned, with a 
tree in his hand 

What is this, 
That rises like the issue of a king, 
And wears upon his baby-brow the round 
And top of sovereignty? 

All. Listen, but speak not to't. 

Third Apparition. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take 

no care 90 

Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are : 
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until 
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill 
Shall come against him. [Descends. 

Macbeth. That will never be : 



Scene I] Macbeth 125 

Who can impress the forest, bid the tree 
Unfix his earth-bound root ? Sweet bodements ! 

good ! 
Rebellious head, rise never till the wood 
Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth 
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath 
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart 100 

Throbs to know one thing : tell me, if your art 
Can tell so much : shall Banquo's issue ever 
Reign in this kingdom ? 

All. Seek to know no more. 

Macbeth. I will be satisfied : deny me this, 

And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know — 

Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is 

this ? [Hautboys. 

First Witch. Show! 

Second Witch. Show ! 

Third Witch. Show ! 

All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart ; no 

Come like shadows, so depart ! 

A show of eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand ; 
Banquo's Ghost following 

Macbeth. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo : 
down ! 
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy 
hair, 

95. impress, force into service. 96. bodements, predictions. 
106. noise, music. 



126 Macbeth [Act IV 

Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. 

A third is like the former. Filthy hags ! 

Why do you show me this ? A fourth ? Start, 
eyes ! 

What, will the line stretch out to the crack of 
doom ? 

Another yet ? A seventh ? I'll see no more : 

And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass 

Which shows me many more ; and some I see 120 

That two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry : 

Horrible sight ! Now I see 'tis true ; 

For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, 

And points at them for his. What, is this so ? 
First Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so : but why 

Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ? 

Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, 

And show the best of our delights : 

I'll charm the air^fb give a sound, 

While you perform your antic round, 130 

That this great king may kindly say 

Our duties did his welcome pay. 

[Music. The Witches dance, and 
then vanish, with Hecate. 
Macbeth. Where are they? Gone? Let this per- 
nicious hour 

Stand aye accursed in the calendar ! 

Come in, without there ! 

119. glass, mirror. 123. blood-bolter' d, with hair matted with 
blood. 127. sprites, spirits. 130. antic, fantastic, grotesque. 



Scene I] Macbeth 127 

Enter Lennox 

Lennox. What's your grace's will ? 

Macbeth. Saw you the weird sisters ? 

Leimox. No, my lord. 

Macbeth. Came they not by you ? 

Lennox. No indeed, my lord. 

Macbeth. Infected be the air whereon they ride, 
And damn'd all those that trust them ! I did 

hear 
The galloping of horse : who was't came by ? 140 

Lennox. 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you 
word 
Macduff is fled to England. 

Macbeth. Fled to England ! 

Lennox. Ay, my good lord. 

Macbeth. [Aside] Time, thou anticipatest my dread 
exploits : 
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 
Unless the deed go with it : from this moment 
The very firstlings of my heart shall be 
The firstlings of my hand. And even now, 
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought 

and done : 
The castle of Macduff I will surprise ; 150 

Seize upon Fife ; give to the edge o' the sword 
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls 

144. anticipatest, preventest. 145. flighty, fleeting. 147. first- 
lings, first offsprings. 



128 Macbeth [Act iv 

That trace him in his line. No boasting like a 
fool ; 

This deed I'll do before this purpose cool : 

But no more sights ! — Where are these gentle- 
men ? 

Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. Fife. Macduff's castle 

Enter Lady Macduff, her Son, and Ross 

Lady Macduff. What had he done, to make him 

fly the land ? 
Ross. You must have patience, madam. 
Lady Macduff. He had none : 

His flight was madness : when our actions do 

not, 
Our fears do make us traitors. 
Ross. You know not 

Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. 
Lady Macduff. Wisdom ! to leave his wife, to leave 
his babes, 
His mansion and his titles, in a place 
From whence himself does fly ? He loves us 

not ; 
He wants the natural touch : for the poor wren, 
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 10 

Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. 

155. sights, apparitions. 7. titles, title-deeds. 9. touch, feeling. 



Scene II] Macbeth 129 

All is the fear and nothing is the love ; 
As little is the wisdom, where the flight 
So runs against all reason. 

feoss. My dearest coz, 

I pray you, school yourself : but, for your 

husband, 
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows 
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much 

further ; 
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors 
And do not know ourselves ; when we hold 

rumour 
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 20 
But float upon a wild and violent sea 
Each way and move. I take my leave of you : 
Shall not be long but I'll be here again : 
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb 

upward 
To what they were before. My pretty cousin, 
Blessing upon you ! 

Lady Macduff. Father'd he is, and yet he's father- 
less. 

Ross. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, 
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort : 
I take my leave at once. [Exit. 

Lady Macduff. Sirrah, your father's dead : 30 

And what will you do now ? How will you live ? 

14. coz, cousin. 15. for, as for. 17. fits, violent disorders. 
22. move, are tossed about. 

MACBETH — 9 



130 Macbeth [Act IV 

Son. As birds do, mother. 

Lady Macduff. What, with worms and flies ? 

Son. With what I get, I mean ; and so do they. 
Lady Macduff. Poor bird ! thou'ldst never fear the 

net nor lime, 
The pitfall nor the gin. 
Son. Why should I, mother ? Poor birds they are 

not set for. 
My father is not dead, for all your saying. 
Lady Macduff. Yes, he is dead : how wilt thou do 

for a father ? 
So?i. Nay, how will you do for a husband ? 
Lady Macduff. Why, I can buy me twenty at any 

market. 4° 

Son. Then you'll buy 'em to sell again. 
Lady Macduff. Thou speak'st with all thy wit, and 

yet, i' faith, 
With wit enough for thee. 
Son. Was my father a traitor, mother ? 
Lady Macduff. Ay, that he was. 
Son. What is a traitor ? 

Lady Macduff. Why, one that swears and lies. 
Son. And be all traitors that do so ? 
Lady Macduff. Every one that does so is a traitor, 

and must be hanged. 50 

Son. And must they all be hanged that swear and 

lie? 
Lady Macduff. Every one. 

34. lime, bird-lime. 35. gin, snare. 



Scene ii] Macbeth 



J 3i 



Son. Who must hang them ? 

Lady Macduff. Why, the honest men. 

Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools : for 

there are liars and swearers enow to beat 

the honest men and hang up them. 
Lady Macduff. Now, God help thee, poor monkey ! 

But how wilt thou do for a father ? 60 

Son. If he were dead, you'ld weep for him : if you 

would not, it were a good sign that I should 

quickly have a new father. 
Lady Macduff. Poor prattler, how thou talk'st ! 

Enter a Messenger 

Messenger. Bless you, fair dame ! I am not to you 
known, 
Though in your state of honour I am perfect. 
I doubt some danger does approach you nearly : 
If you will take a homely man's advice, 
Be not found here ; hence, with your little ones. 
To fright you thus, methinks I am too savage ; 70 
To do worse to you were fell cruelty, 
Which is too nigh your person. Heaven pre- 
serve you ! 
I dare abide no longer. \_Exit. 

Lady Macduff. Whither should I fly ? 

I have done no harm. But I remember now 
I am in this earthly world, where to do harm 
Is often laudable, to do good sometime 

67. doubt, fear. 68. homely, simple, plain. 71. fell, savage. 



132 Macbeth [Act iv 

Accounted dangerous folly : why then, alas, 
Do I put up that womanly defence, 
To say I have done no harm ? — What are these 
faces ? 

Enter Murderers 

First Murderer. Where is your husband ? 80 

Lady Macduff. I hope, in no place so unsanctified 

Where such as thou mayst find him. 
First Murderer. He's a traitor. 

Son. Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain ! 
First Murderer. What, { you egg ! 

[Stabbing him. 

Young fry of treachery ! 

Son. He has kilPd me, mother : 

Run away, I pray you ! [Dies. 

[Exit Lady Macduff, crying ' Murder ! ' 

Exeunt Murderers, following her. 

Scene III. England. Before the king's palace 

Enter Malcolm and Macduff 

Malcolm. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and 
there 

Weep our sad bosoms empty. 
Afacduff. Let us rather 

Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men 

78. womanly, womanish, weak. 84. fry, offspring. 3. mortal, 
death-dealing. 



Scene III] Macbeth 133 

Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom : each new 

morn 
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new 

sorrows 
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds 
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out 
Like syllable of dolour. 
Malcolm. What I believe, I'll wail ; 

What know, believe ; and what I can redress, 
As I shall find the time to friend, I will. 10 

What you have spoke, it may be so perchance. 
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our 

tongues, 
Was once thought honest : you have loved him 

well ; 
He hath not touch 'd you yet. I am young ; but 

something 
You may discern of him through me ; and 

wisdom 
To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb 
To appease an angry god. 
Macduff. I am not treacherous. 
Malcolm. But Macbeth is. 

A good and virtuous nature may recoil 
In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your 

pardon ; 20 

4. birthdom, mother-country. 6. that, so that. io. to friend, 
favourable. 13. honest, honourable. 14. touched, injured. 15. dis- 
cern, learn. 



134 Macbeth [Act IV 

That which you are, my thoughts cannot 

transpose : 
Angels are bright still, though the brightest 

fell : 
Though all things foul would wear the brows of 

grace, 
Yet grace must still look so. 
Macduff. I have lost my hopes. 

Malcolm. Perchance even there where I did find 

my doubts. 
Why in that rawness left you wife and child, 
Those precious motives, those strong knots of 

love, 
Without leave-taking ? I pray you, 
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, 
But mine own safeties. You may be rightly 

just, 30 

Whatever I shall think. 
Macduff. Bleed, bleed, poor country ; 

Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, 
For goodness dare not check thee : wear thou 

thy wrongs ; 
The title is affeer'd. Fare thee well, lord : 
I would not be the villain that thou think'st 
For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp 
And the rich East to boot. 

21. transpose, alter the nature of. 24. so, like itself. 26. raw- 
ness, rash haste. 27. motives, causes for action. 29. jealousies, 
suspicions. 34. affeei'd, confirmed. 



Scene ill] Macbeth 135 

Malcolm. Be not offended : 

I speak not as in absolute fear of you. 
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke ; 
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash 40 
Is added to her wounds : I think withal 
There would be hands uplifted in my right ; 
And here from gracious England have I offer 
Of goodly thousands : but for all this, 
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, 
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country 
Shall have more vices than it had before, 
More suffer and more sundry ways than ever, 
By him that shall succeed. 

Macduff. What should he be ? 

Malcolm. It is myself I mean : in whom I know 50 

All the particulars of vice so grafted 
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth 
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state 
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared 
With my confineless harms. 

Macduff. Not in the legions 

Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd 
In evils to top Macbeth. 

Malcolm. I grant him bloody, 

Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, 
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin 

41. withal, moreover. 46. wear, bear. 48. sundry, diverse. 
57. top, surpass. 58. Luxurious, licentious. 59. Sudden, hasty, 
violent. 



136 Macbeth [Act iv 

That has a name : but there's no bottom, none, 60 
In my voluptuousness : your wives, your daugh- 
ters, 
Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up 
The cistern of my lust, and my desire 
All continent impediments would o'erbear. 
That did oppose my will : better Macbeth 
Than such an one to reign. 

Macduff. Boundless intemperance . 

In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been 
The untimely emptying of the happy throne, 
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet 
To take upon you what is yours : you may 70 

Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty, 
And yet seem cold, the time you may so 

hoodwink : 
We have willing dames enough ; there cannot 

be 
That vulture in you, to devour so many 
As will to greatness dedicate themselves, 
Finding it so inclined. 

Malcolm. With this there grows 

In my most ill-composed affection such 
A stanchless avarice that, were I king, 
I should cut off the nobles for their lands, 

64. continent, restraining. 65. will, desire, lust. 69. fall, cause 
of fall. 69. yet, nevertheless. 71. convey, manage secretly. 
72. hoodwink, blind, deceive. 77. ill-composed, compounded of evil 
qualities. 77. affection, disposition. 78. stanchless, unstanchable. 



Scene ill] Macbeth 137 

Desire his jewels and this other's house : 80 

And my more-having would be as a sauce 
To make me hunger more, that I should forge 
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal, 
Destroying them for wealth. 

Macduff. This avarice 

Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root 
Than summer-seeming lust, and it hath been 
The sword of our slain kings : yet do not fear ; 
Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will 
Of your mere own : all these are portable, 
With other graces weigh 'd. 90 

Malcolm. But I have none : the king-becoming 
graces, 
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, 
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, 
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, 
I have no relish of them, but abound 
In the division of each several crime, 
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I 

should 
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, 
Uproar the universal peace, confound 
All unity on earth. 

Macduff. O Scotland, Scotland ! 100 

81. sauce, stimulant. 86. summer- seeming, summer-like. 

88. foisons, plenties. 89. mere own, very own. 89. portable, en- 
durable. 95. relish of, trace of. 99. Uproar, disturb by revolu- 
tion. 99. confound, destroy. 



138 Macbeth [Act IV 

Malcolm. If such a one be fit to govern, speak : 
I am as I have spoken. 

Macduff. Fit to govern ! 

No, not to live. O nation miserable ! 
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptre'd, 
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 
Since that the truest issue of thy throne 
By his own interdiction stands accursed, 
And does blaspheme his breed ? Thy royal 

father 
Was a most sainted king : the queen that bore 

thee, 
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet, no 

Died every day she lived. Fare thee well ! 
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself 
Have banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast, 
Thy hope ends here ! 

Malcolm. Macduff, this noble passion, 

Child of integrity, hath from my soul 
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts 
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Mac- 
beth 
By many of these trains hath sought to win me 
Into his power ; and modest wisdom plucks me 
From over-credulous haste : but God above 120 

Deal between thee and me ! for even now 

104. untitled, unlawful. 105. wholesome, healthy, prosperous. 
114. passion, passionate outburst. 118. trains, tricks. 119. mod- 
est, sober. 119. plucks, restrains. 



Scene Hi] Macbeth 139 

I put myself to thy direction, and 
Un speak mine own detraction ; here abjure 
The taints and blames I laid upon myself, 
For strangers to my nature. I am yet 
Unknown to woman, never was forsworn, 
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own, 
At no time broke my faith, would not betray 
The devil to his fellow, and delight 
No less in truth than life : my first false speaking 130 
Was this upon myself : what I am truly, 
Is thine and my poor country's to command : 
Whither indeed, before thy here-approach, 
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men, 
Already at a point, was setting forth. 
Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness 
Be like our warranted quarrel ! Why are you 
silent ? 
Macduff. Such welcome and unwelcome things at 
once 
'Tis hard to reconcile. 

Enter a Doctor 

Malcolm. Well, more anon. Comes the king forth, 

I pray you ? 140 

Doctor. Ay, sir ; there are a crew of wretched souls 
That stay his cure : their malady convinces (&*&> 

124. d/ames, accusations. 125. For,z.%. 135. at a point, pre- 
pared. 137. warranted, just. 141. crew, company. 142. stay, 
wait for. 



140 Macbeth [Act IV 

The great assay of art ; but at his touch, 
Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand, 
They presently amend. 

Malcolm. I thank you, doctor. [Exit Doctor, 

Macduff. What's the disease he means ? 

Malcolm. 'Tis call'd the evil : 

A most miraculous work in this good king ; 
Which often, since my here-remain in England, 
I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven, 
Himself best knows : but strangely-visited 

people, 150 

All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, 
The mere despair of surgery, he cures, 
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, 
Put on with holy prayers : and 'tis spoken, 
To the succeeding royalty he leaves 
The healing benediction. With this strange 

virtue 
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, 
And sundry blessings hang about his throne 
That speak him full of grace. 

Enter Ross 

Macduff. See, who comes here ? 

Malcolm. My countryman ; but yet I know him not. 160 
Macduff. My ever gentle cousin, welcome hither. 

145. presently, straightway. 149. solicits, moves by petitions. 
150. strangely-visited, strangely afflicted. 153. stamp, coin. 

156. virtue, power. 159. speak, proclaim. 



Scene III] Macbeth 141 

Malcolm. I know him now : good God, betimes re- 
move 

The means that makes us strangers ! 
Ross. Sir, amen., 

Macduff. Stands Scotland where it did ? 
Ross. Alas, poor country ! 

Almost afraid to know itself ! It cannot 

Be call'd our mother, but our grave : where 
nothing, 

But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile ; 

Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend 
the air, 

Are made, not mark'd ; where violent sorrow 
seems 

A modern ecstasy : the dead man's knell 170 

Is there scarce ask'd for who ; and good men's 
lives 

Expire before the flowers in their caps, 

Dying or ere they sicken. 
Macduff. O, relation 

Too nice, and yet too true ! 
Malcolm. What's the newest grief ? 

Ross. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker ; 

Each minute teems a new one. 
Macduff. How does my wife ? 

Ross. Why, well. 

169. made, uttered. 170. modern ecstasy, ordinary fit. 173. re- 
lation, report. 173. or ere, before. 174. nice, fancifully minute. 
176. teems, brings forth. 



142 Macbeth [Act IV 

Macduff. And all my children ? 

Ross. Well too. 

Macduff. The tyrant has not batter'd at their 
peace ? 

Ross. No ; they were well at peace when I did 
leave 'em. 

Macduff. Be not a niggard of your speech : how 

goes't ? 180 

Ross. When I came hither to transport the tidings, 
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour 
Of many worthy fellows that were out ; 
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather, 
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot : 
Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland 
Would create soldiers, make our women fight, 
To doff their dire distresses. 

Malcolm. Be't their comfort 

We are coming thither : gracious England 

hath 
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men ; 190 
An older and a better soldier none 
That Christendom gives out. 

Ross. Would I could answer 

This comfort with the like ! But I have words 
That would be howl'd out in the desert air, 
Where hearing should not latch them. 

182. heavily, sadly. 183. out, up in arms. 185. For that, be- 
cause. 185. power, army. 188. doff, put away, get rid of. 
192. gives out, proclaims. 195. latch, catch. 



Scene ill] Macbeth 143 

Macduff. What concern they ? 

The general cause ? or is it a fee-grief 

Due to some single breast ? 
Ross. No mind that's honest 

But in it shares some woe, though the main part 

Pertains to you alone. 
Macduff. If it be mine, 

Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it. 200 
Ross. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, 

Which shall possess them with the heaviest 
sound 

That ever yet they heard. 
Macduff. Hum ! I guess at it. 

Ross. Your castle is surprised ; your wife and babes 

Savagely slaughter'd : to relate the manner, 

Were, on the quarry of these murder'd deer, 

To add the death of you. 
Malcolm. Merciful heaven ! 

What, man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows ; 

Give sorrow words : the grief that does not speak 

Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break. 210 
Macduff. My children too ? 
Ross. Wife, children, servants, all 

That could be found. 
Macduff. And I must be from thence ! 

My wife kill'd too ? 
Ross. I have said. 

196. fee-grief, private sorrow. 202. possess, in form. 

206. quarry, heap of bodies. 210. (P erf r aught, overburdened. 



144 Macbeth [Act IV 

Malcolm. Be comforted : 

Let's make us medicines of our great revenge, 
To cure this deadly grief. 
Macduff. He has no children. All my pretty ones ? 
Did you say all ? O hell-kite ! All ? 
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam 
At one fell swoop ? 
Malcolm. Dispute it like a man. 

Macduff. I shall do so ; 220 

But I must also feel it as a man : 
I cannot but remember such things were, 
That were most precious to me. Did heaven 

look on, 
And would not take their part ? Sinful Mac- 
duff, 
They were all struck for thee ! naught that I am, 
Not for their own demerits, but for mine, 
Fell slaughter on their souls i heaven rest them 
now! 
Malcolm. Be this the whetstone of your sword : let 
grief 
Convert to anger ; blunt not the heart, enrage it. 
Macduff. O, I could play the woman with mine 

eyes, 230 

And braggart with my tongue ! But, gentle 

heavens, 
Cut short all intermission ; front to front 

220. Dispute* fight against. 225. naught, wicked. 229. Con- 
vert, turn. 232. intermission, delay. 



Scene i] Macbeth 145 

Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself ; 
Within my sword's length set him ; if he 'scape, 
Heaven forgive him too 1 
Malcolm. This time goes manly. 

Come, go we to the king ; our power is ready ; 
Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth 
Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above 
Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer 

you may ; 
The night is long that never finds the day. 240 

[Exeunt. 



ACT V 

Scene I. Dunsinane. Ante-room in the castle 

J$ . . . 

Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting-Gentlewoman 

Doctor. I have two nights watched with you, but 
can perceive no truth in your report. When 
was it she last walked ? 

Gentlewoman. Since his majesty went into the field, 
I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her 
nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth 
paper, fold it, write upon't, read it, afterwards 
seal it, and again return to bed ; yet all this 
while in a most fast sleep. 

235. time, tune. 239. Put on, push forward, encourage. 

6. closet, cabinet. 

MACBETH — IO 



146 Macbeth [Act V 

Doctor. A great perturbation in nature, to 10 
receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the 
effects of watching ! In this slumbery agitation, 
besides her walking and other actual perform- 
ances, what, at any time, have you heard her say ? 

Gentlewoman. That, sir, which I will not report 
after her. 

Doctor. You may to me, and 'tis most meet you 
should. 

Gentlewoman. Neither to you nor any one, having 20 
no witness to confirm my speech. 

Enter Lady Macbeth, with a taper 

Lo you, here she comes ! This is her very 

guise, and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe 

her ; stand close. 
Doctor. How came she by that light ? 
Ge7itlewoman. Why, it stood by her : she has light 

by her continually ; 'tis her command. 
Doctor. You see, her eyes are open. 
Ge7itlewoma?i. Ay, but their sense are shut. 
Doctor. What is it she does now ? Look, how she 30 

rubs her hands. 
Gentlewoman. It is an accustomed action with her, 

to seem thus washing her hands : I have known 

her continue in this a quarter of an hour. 
Lady Macbeth. Yet here's a spot. 
Doctor. Hark ! she speaks ; I will set down what 

16. report, repeat. 24. stand close, keep concealed. 



Scene I] Macbeth 147 

comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the 
more strongly. 

Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot ! out, I say ! One : 
two : why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. 40 
Fie, my lord, fie ! a soldier, and afeard ? What 
need we fear who knows it, when none can call 
our power to account? Yet who would have 
thought the old man to have had so much blood 
in him ? 

Doctor. Do you mark that ? 

Lady Macbeth. The thane of Fife had a wife ; where 
is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be 
clean ? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' 
that : you mar all with this starting. 50 

Doctor. Go to, go to ; you have known what you 
should not. 

Gentlewoman. She has spoke what she should not, I 
am sure of that : heaven knows what she has 
known. 

Lady Macbeth. Here's the smell of the blood still : 
all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this 
little hand. Oh, oh, oh ! 

Doctor. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely 
charged. ^ 60 

Gentlewoman. I would not have such a heart in my 
bosom for the dignity of the whole body. 

Doctor. Well, well, well ! 

37. satisfy, assure. 50. starting, sudden motion. 51. go to, an 
expression of reproof. 



148 Macbeth [Act V 

Gentlewoman. Pray God it be, sir. 

Doctor. This disease is beyond my practice : yet I 
have known those which have walked in their 
sleep who have died holily in their beds. 

Lady Macbeth. Wash your hands ; put on your night- 
gown ; look not so pale : I tell you yet again, 
Banquo's buried ; he cannot come out on's 70 
grave. 

Doctor. Even so ? 

Lady Macbeth. To bed, to bed ; there's knocking 
at the gate : come, come, come, come, give me 
your hand : what's done cannot be undone : to 
bed, to bed, to bed. [Exit. 

Doctor. Will she go now to bed ? 

Gentlewoman. Directly. 

Doctor. Foul whisperings are abroad : * unnatural 
deeds 
Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds So 
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets : 
More needs she the divine than the physician. 
God, God forgive us all ! Look after her ; 
Remove from her the means of all annoyance, 
And still keep eyes upon her. So good night : 
My mind she has mated and amazed my sight : 
I think, but dare not speak. 

Gentlewoman. Good night, good doctor. 

\Exeu7it. 

70. on's, of his. 72. Even so? an expression of surprise. 

86. mated, bewildered. 



Scene II] Macbeth 1 49 



Scene II. The country near Dunsinane 

Drum and colours. Enter Menteith, Caithness, 
Angus, Lennox, and Soldiers 

Menteith. The English power is near, led on by 
Malcolm, 
His uncle Siward and the good Macduff : 
Revenges burn in them ; for their dear causes 
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm 
Excite the mortified man. 

Angus. Near Birnam wood 

Shall we well meet them ; that way are they 
coming, 

Caithness. Who knows if Donalbain be with his 
brother ? 

Lennox. For certain, sir, he is not : I have a file 
Of all the gentry : there is Siward's son, 
And many unrough youths, that even now 10 

Protest their first of manhood. 

Menteith. What does the tyrant ? 

Caithness. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies : 
Some say he's mad ; others, that lesser hate 

him, 
Do call it valiant fury : but, for certain, 
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause 
Within the belt of rule. 

4. bleeding, bloody. 4. alarm, call to arms. 5. mortified, dead. 
10. unrough, beardless. 



1 50 Macbeth [Act V 

Angus. Now does he feel 

His secret murders sticking on his hands ; 
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach ; 
Those he commands move only in command, 
Nothing in love : now does he feel his title 20 

Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe 
Upon a dwarfish thief. 

Menteith. • Who then shall blame 

His pester'd senses to recoil and start, 
When all that is within him does condemn 
Itself for being there ? 

Caithness. Well, march we on, 

To give obedience where 'tis truly owed : 
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal, 
And with him pour we, in our country's purge, 
Each drop of us. 

Lennox. Or so much as it needs 

To dew the sovereign flower and drown the 

weeds. 30 

Make we our march towards Birnam. 

\Exeunt, marching. 

Scene III. Dunsinane. A room in the castle 

Enter Macbeth, Doctor, a?id Attendants 

Macbeth. Bring me no more reports ; let them fly 
all: 

18. minutely, every minute. 23. pester'd, troubled. 27. medi- 
cine, doctor. 27. weal, commonwealth. 



Scene III] Macbeth 151 

Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane 
I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy- 
Malcolm ? 
Was he not born of woman ? The spirits that 

know 
All mortal consequences have pronounced me 

thus : 
' Fear not, Macbeth ; no man that's born of 

woman 
Shall e'er have power upon thee.' Then fly, 

false thanes, 
And mingle with the English epicures : 
The mind I sway by and the heart I bear 
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. 10 

Enter a Servant 

The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced 
loon ! 

Where got'st thou that goose look ? 
Servant. There is ten thousand — 
Macbeth. Geese, villain ? 

Servant. Soldiers, sir. 

Macbeth. Go prick thy face and over-red thy fear, 

Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch ? 

Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine 

Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey- 
face ? 

3. taint, be infected. 9. sway, move. 1 1, loon, worthless fel- 
low. 15. lily-liver 'd, cowardly. 15. patch, fool. 



152 Macbeth [Act V 

Servant. The English force, so please you. 

Macbeth. Take thy face hence. [Exit Servant. 

Seyton ! — I am sick at heart, 
When I behold — Seyton, I say ! — This push 20 
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now. 
I have lived long enough : my way of life 
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf, 
And that which should accompany old age, 
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 
I must not look to have ; but, in their stead, 
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, 

breath, 
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare 

not. 
Seyton ! 

Enter Seyton 



3° 



Seyton. What's your gracious pleasure ? 

Macbeth. What news more ? 

Seyton. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was 

reported. 
Macbeth. I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be 
hack'd. 

Give me my armour. 
Seyton. 'Tis not needed yet. 

Macbeth. I'll put it on. 

Send out moe horses, skirr the country round ; 

20. push, attack. 21. disseat, dethrone. 27. breath, flattery. 
35. skirr, scour. 



Scene ill] Macbeth 153 

Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine 

armour. 
How does your patient, doctor ? 

Doctor. Not so sick, my lord, 

As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
That keep her from her rest. 

Macbeth. Cure her of that. 

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart ? 

Doctor. Therein the patient 

Must minister to himself. 

Macbeth. Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it. 
Come, put mine armour on ; give me my staff. 
Seyton, send out. Doctor, the thanes fly from 

me. 
Come, sir, dispatch. If thou couldst, doctor, cast 50 
The water of my land, find her disease 
And purge it to a sound and pristine health, 
I would applaud thee to the very echo, 
That should applaud again. Pull't off, I say. 
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, 
Would scour these English hence ? Hear'st 
thou of them ? 

43. obliviotis, causing forgetfulness. 48. staff, baton. 50. dis- 
patch, be quick. 



>> 



154 Macbeth [Act V 

Doctor. Ay, my good lord : your royal preparation 

Makes us hear something. 
Macbeth. Bring it after me. 

I will not be afraid of death and bane 
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. 60 

Doctor. [Aside] Were I from Dunsinane away and 
clear, 
Profit again should hardly draw me here. 

\Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Coicntry near Birnam wood 

Drum and colows. Enter Malcolm, old Siward 
and his Son, Macduff, Menteith, Caithness, 
Angus, Lennox, Ross, and Soldiers, marching 

Malcolm. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand 

That chambers will be safe. 
Menteith. We doubt it nothing. 

Siward. What wood is this before us ? 
Menteith. The wood of Birnam. 

Malcolm. Let every soldier hew him down a bough, 

And bear't before him : thereby shall we 
shadow 

The numbers of our host, and make discovery 

Err in report of us. 
Soldiers. It shall be done. 

59. bane, ruin. i. Cousins, kinsmen, 6. discovery, reconnais- 
sance, 



Scene V] Macbeth 155 

Siward. We learn no other but the confident tyrant 
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure 
Our setting down before 't. 

Malcolm. 'Tis his main hope : 10 

For where there is advantage to be given, 
Both more and less have given him the revolt, 
And none serve with him but constrained things 
Whose hearts are absent too. 

Macduff. Let our just censures 

Attend the true event, and put we on 
Industrious soldiership. 

Siward. The time approaches, 

That will with due decision make us know 
What we shall say we have and what we owe. 
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate, 
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate : 20 

Towards which advance the war. 

{Exeunt marching. 

Scene V. Dunsinane. Within the castle 

Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Soldiers, with drum 

and colours 

Macbeth. Hang out our banners on the outward 
walls ; 
The cry is still ' They come : ' our castle's 
strength 

8. but, but that. II. advantage, good opportunity. 12. more 
and less, great and small. 19. relate, utter. 



156 Macbeth [Act V 

Will laugh a siege to scorn : here let them lie 

Till famine and the ague eat them up : 

Were they not forced with those that should be 

ours, 
We might have met them dareful, beard to 

beard, 
And beat them backward home. 

\_A cry of women within. 
What is that noise ? 
Seyton. It is the cry of women, my good lord. 

\Exit. 
Macbeth. I have almost forgot the taste of fears : 

The time has been, my senses would have cool'd 10 
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair 
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir 
As life were in't : I have supp'd full with 

horrors ; 
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, 
Cannot once start me. 

Re-enter Seyton 

Wherefore was that cry ? 
Seyton. The queen, my lord, is dead. 
Macbeth. She should have died hereafter ; 

There would have been a time for such a word. 
^r To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 20 

5. forced, reinforced. II. fell of hair, the hair of my scalp. 
12. treatise, story. 13. As, as if. 13. with, on. 15. start, startle. 



Scene V] Macbeth 157 

To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 
And then is heard no more : it is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing. 

Enter a Messenger 

Thou comest to use thy tongue ; thy story quickly. 
Messenger. Gracious my lord, ( 30 

I should report that which I say I saw, 

But know not how to do it. 
Macbeth. Well, say, sir. 

Messenger. As I did stand my watch upon the hill, 

I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, 

The wood began to move. 
Macbeth. Liar and slave ! 

Messenger. Let me endure your wrath, if 't be not so : 

Within this three mile may you see it coming ; 

I say, a moving grove. 
Macbeth. If thou speak'st false, 

Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, 

Till famine cling thee : if thy speech be sooth, 40 

I care not if thou dost for me as much. 

I pull in resolution, and begin 

To doubt the equivocation of the fiend 

25. frets, chafes. 40. cling, shrivel. 



158 Macbeth [Act V 

That lies like truth : ' Fear not, till Birnam wood 
Do come to Dunsinane ; ' and now a wood 
Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out! 
If this which he avouches does appear, 
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here. 
I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun, 
And wish th' estate o' the world were now un- 
done. 50 
Ring the alarum-bell ! Blow, wind ! come, 

wrack ! 
At least we'll die with harness on our back. 

\Exeunt. 

Scene VI. Dunsinane. Before the castle 

Drum and colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siward, 
Macduff, and their Army, with boughs 

Malcolm. Now near enough ; your leavy screens 
throw down, 
And show like those you are. You, worthy uncle, 
Shall, with my cousin, your right noble son, 
Lead our first battle : worthy Macduff and we 
Shall take upon's what else remains to do, 
According to our order. 

Siward. Fare you well. 

Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, 
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight. 

47. avouches, asserts. 51. wrack, wreck. 52. harness, armour. 
2. show, appear. 4. battle, line. 6. order, plan of battle. 



Scene VII] Macbeth 159 

Macduff. Make all our trumpets speak ; give them 
all breath, 
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. 10 

[Exeunt. 

Scene VII. Another part of the field 

Alarums. Enter Macbeth 
Macbeth. They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot 

fly. 

But bear-like I must fight the course. What's he 
That was not born of woman ? Such a one 
Am I to fear, or none. 

Enter Young Si ward 

Young Siward. What is thy name ? 
Macbeth. • Thou'lt be afraid to hear it. 

Young Siward. No ; though thou call'st thyself a 
hotter name 
Than any is in hell. 
Macbeth. My name's Macbeth. 

Young Siward. The devil himself could not pro- 
nounce a title 
More hateful to mine ear. 
Macbeth. No, nor more fearful. 

Yoimg Siward. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant ; with 

my sword 10 

I '11 prove the lie thou speak'st. 

[They fight, and young Siward is slain. 



160 Macbeth [Act V 

Macbeth. Thou wast born of woman. 

But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, 
Brandish'd by man that 's of a woman born. 

[Exit 
Alarums. Enter Macduff 

Macduff. That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy 

face ! 
If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine, 
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me 

still. 
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms 
Are hired to bear their staves : either thou, 

Macbeth, 
Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge, 
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst 

be ; 2c 

By this great clatter, one of greatest note 
Seems bruited : let me find him, fortune ! And 
More I beg not. [Exit. Alarums. 

Enter Malcolm and old Siward 

Siward. This way, my lord ; the castle's gently 
render'd : 
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight ; 
The noble thanes do bravely in the war ; 

1 8. staves, spears. 20. undeeded, unmarked by deeds. 

20. shouldst, must. 21. note, importance, rank. 22. bruited, an- 
nounced by the noise. 



Scene viii] Macbeth 161 

The day almost itself professes yours, 

And little is to do. 
Malcolm. We have met with foes 

That strike beside us. 
Siward. Enter, sir, the castle. 

\Exeunt. Alarum. 

Scene VIII. Another part of the field 

Enter Macbeth 

Macbeth. Why should I play the Roman fool, and 
die 
On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives, the 

gashes 
Do better upon them. 

Enter Macduff 

Macduff. " Turn, hell-hound, turn ! 

Macbeth. Of all men else I have avoided thee : 
But get thee back ; my soul is too much charged 
With blood of thine already. 

Macduff. I have no words : 

My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain 
Than terms can give thee out ! [They fight. 

Macbeth. Thou losest labour : 

As easy, mayst thou the intrenchant air 
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed : 10 

2. lives, living men. 9. intrenchant, invulnerable. 10. impress, 
make a mark on. 

MACBETH — 1 1 



1 62 Macbeth [Act v 

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ; 

I bear a charmed life, which must not yield 

To one of woman born. 

Macduff. Despair thy charm, 

And let the angel whom thou still hast served 
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 
Untimely ripp'd. 

Macbeth. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, 
For it hath cow'd my better part of man ! 
And be these juggling fiends no more believed, 
That palter with us in a double sense ; 20 

That keep the word of promise to our ear, 
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with 
thee. 

Macduff. Then yield thee, coward, t 

And live to be the show and gaze o' the time : 
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, 
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit, 
' Here may you see the tyrant. ' 

Macbeth. I will not yield, 

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, 
And to be baited with the rabble's curse. 
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, 30 
And thou opposed, being of no woman born, 
Yet I will try the last : before my body 
I throw my warlike shield ; lay on, Macduff ; 

14. angel, demon. 14. still, continually. 24. gaze, gazing- 
stock. 26. underxvrit, written underneath. 32. the last, the last 
resource. 



Scene viii] Macbeth 163 

And damn'd be him that first cries ' Hold, 

enough ! ' \Exeunt, fighting. Alarums. 

Retreat. Flourish. E,7iter, with drum and colours ', 
Malcolm, old Siward, Ross, the other Thanes, 
and Soldiers 

Malcolm. I would the friends we miss were safe 

arrived. 
Siward. Some must go off : and yet, by these I see, 

So great a day as this is cheaply bought, 
Malcolm. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. 
Ross. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt : 

He only lived but till he was a man ; 40 

The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd 

In the unshrinking station where he fought, 

But like a man he died. 
Siward. ~ Then he is dead ? 

Ross. Ay, and brought off the field : your cause of 
sorrow 

Must not be measured by his worth, for then 

It hath no end. 
Siward. Had he his hurts before ? 

Ross. Ay, on the front. 
Siward. Why, then, God's soldier be he ! 

Had I as many sons as I have hairs, 

I would not wish them to a fairer death : 

And, so his knell is knoll'd. 

36. go off, die. 46. before, in front. 



164 Macbeth [Act V 

Malcolm. He's worth more sorrow, 50 

And that I'll spend for him. 

Siward. He's worth no more : 

They say he parted well and paid his score : 
And so God be with him ! Here comes newer 
comfort. 

Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth 's head 

Macduff. Hail, king ! for so thou art : behold, 
where stands 
The usurper's cursed head : the time is free : 
I see thee compass 'd with thy kingdom's pearl, 
That speak my salutation in their minds ; 
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine : 
Hail, King of Scotland ! 

All. Hail, King of Scotland ! 

[Flourish. 

Malcolm. We shall not spend a large expense of time 60 
Before we reckon with your several loves, 
And make us even with you. My thanes and 

kinsmen, 
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland 
In such an honour named. W T hat's more to do, 
Which would be planted newly with the time, 
As calling home our exiled friends abroad 
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny, 
Producing forth the cruel ministers 

52. parted, died. 52. score, debt. 55. time, world. 68. min- 
isters, servants, 



Scene viii] Macbeth 165 

Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, 
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands 70 
Took off her life ; this, and what needful else 
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace 
We will perform in measure, time and place : 
So thanks to all at once and to each one, 
W T hom we invite to see us crown 'd at Scone. 

[Flourish. Exeunt. 

70. self and violent, her own violent. 



NOTES 



CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY 
ACT I. SCENE I 

Shakespeare's dramatic genius is especially to be noted in the 
art with which he manages his beginnings. The first scene of 
Macbeth strikes the keynote of the play. The desert place, the 
wild storm, the appearance of the witches, " the wayward rhythm " 
of their songs, all help to prepare us for a drama in which a human 
soul succumbs to the supernatural suggestions of evil and ranges 
itself along with the witches on the devil's side. We hear of 
a battle that is even now being fought, we hear of the trysting- 
place of the witches at the conclusion of the fray, and last of all we 
hear the name of the man they are planning to meet. No sooner 
has the name " Macbeth " been uttered than the calls of the at- 
tendant spirits are heard and the witches hurry off. The action of 
the scene is over with the naming of the man against whose soul 
these ministers of darkness are plotting. 

I. The dialogue of the witches is a sort of chant. It is thrown 
into a verse form, trochaic tetrameter, 1 which Shakespeare rarely 
uses except for supernatural beings, witches, fairies, or the like. In 
order to bring out the rhyme the last syllable is dropped from the 
end of each line. In line 2 the rhythm is reversed and the stress 
falls on the second syllable of each foot. In line 7 the stressed 
syllable in the third foot is omitted. This forces us to pause in the 
middle of the line and so secures additional emphasis for the 

1 See Note on Metre, page 269. 
167 



1 68 Notes [Act I 

closing word, " Macbeth." We may imagine the Third Witch 
pausing for a moment while her sisters gather round her and then 
shrieking out the name of the hero in an ecstasy of devilish joy. 

8. Graymalkin. According to the popular belief a witch was 
always attended by a familiar spirit which was bound to execute 
her commands. This spirit usually took the form of an animal ; 
very often that of a cat. In this scene we hear the familiars of the 
First and Second Witches, respectively, spoken of as a cat, " Gray- 
malkin," and a toad, " Paddock." The Third Witch's familiar is 
mentioned in iv. I. 3. as " Harpier," that is, a harpy. 

II, 12. The couplet with which the witches take their departure 
is a confession of their creed. All that is good, " fair," to others is 
evil, "foul," to them, and vice versa. This applies to both" the 
physical and the moral world ; they revel in the " fog and filthy 
air," and in every sort of mischief and evil-doing from killing 
swine to entrapping human souls. 

ACT I. SCENE II 

This scene is one of the most difficult of the play. Indeed, the 
extraordinary character of its diction and the irregularity of its 
metre have induced some critics to condemn it as un-Shakespearean 
and to assign it to Thomas Middleton. 1 But there seems to be no 
good ground for this. The scene has very probably been ' cut ' for 
purposes of representation, and the high-flown language of the 
principal speakers is due in part at least to their excitement of 
mind. Each of them has come hot-foot from a field of battle 
where he has seen a glorious victory over the enemies of his coun- 
try; and at such a time men do not talk plain prose. 

The purpose of the scene is to tell us something about Macbeth, 
who has only been named in the preceding scene. We learn here 
that he is a Scottish nobleman, a near kinsman of the old king, and 

1 For Middleton's share in Macbeth, see Introduction, page 38. 



Scene II] Notes 1 69 

a valiant warrior. In a single day he has routed two hostile armies, 
one of the Scotch rebels under Macdonwald, whom he has slain with 
his own hand, the other that of the invading Norwegians under 
Sweno. He has been assisted by another nobleman, Banquo, but 
the main glory of the victory is ascribed to Macbeth. 

The scene is laid in the king's camp near Forres, a little town in 
the north of Scotland. Forres is really some ninety miles north of 
the county of Fife, in which Macbeth is supposed to be fighting, 
but Shakespeare, who knew little, and cared less, about Scotch geog- 
raphy, makes it within earshot of the battle. The phrase " alarum 
within," in the stage directions, indicates the noise of the battle ; 
and as the king and his lords enter, they meet a wounded soldier 
who has just come from the front. 

2. revolt. Duncan uses this word because he is thinking of the 
rebels with whom Macbeth is fighting. He knows nothing as yet 
of the foreign invaders. 

3. sergeant a word of three syllables. In the old stage direc- 
tion, retained in this edition, this character is called a captain. 
" Sergeant " in Shakespeare's day meant a member of the king's 
bodyguard; and this man is evidently a captain of that company. 

5. my captivity. It is plain from this phrase that Malcolm, the 
king's son, had been in the battle, and would have been taken pris- 
oner but for the bravery of this captain. 

There is an unaccented syllable wanting in the fourth foot of this 
line. Its place is supplied by the brief pause in Malcolm's speech 
as he turns from his father to address the captain. 

7. An accented syllable is wanting in the third foot of this 
line. The pause before the captain begins to speak takes its place. 

9. choke their art, render their skill in swimming useless. 

9. Macdonwald, the leader of the rebels. 

10. for to that, because to that end, i.e. to be a rebel. "The 
multiplying villanies of nature " refer to the many evil qualities 
of Macdonwald which naturally fitted him to play the part of a 
rebel. 



170 Notes [Act 1 

12. the western isles, the islands off the west coast of Scotland, 
including Ireland. 

13. kerns and gallotvglasses. Shakespeare got these unusual 
words from Holinshed's chronicle. A writer in Shakespeare's 
day, 1 in speaking of the Irish soldiery, says that it consists of three 
parts, horsemen, the rear-guard, "whom they call gallowglasses," 
armed with axes, and light-armed foot-soldiers called kerns, who 
fought with thonged javelins and knives. Originally, at least, the 
gallowglasses were heavy-armed foreign soldiers, hired by the chief, 
and used as a reserve in battle; the kerns, on the other hand, were 
the badly armed peasantry of the country. 

Note the peculiar idiom, " supplied of," instead of our " supplied 
with." 

14. his damned quarrel, his accursed cause. See Textual Notes, 
page 247. 

15. Showed like a rebePs whore, appeared like the flattering mis- 
tress of a rebel. 

18. execution, the termination -ion is here pronounced as two 
syllables. 

20. the slave, Macdonwald. The w-ord, of course, is not used 
literally, but only as a term of reproach. 

21. Which. Possibly something has been omitted after the word 
" slave," for the text as it stands is somewhat obscure. " Which " 
is equivalent to our modern " who," and would naturally refer to 
" the slave," i.e. Macdonwald. But the sense seems to require 
that it refer to Macbeth. Compare i. 5. 36-37 for a somewhat 
similar construction. 

The phrases "shook hands" and "bade farewell" have about 
the same meaning, equivalent to " left." The sense of the whole 
passage, then, is that Macbeth cut his way through the battle to 
Macdonwald and never left him until he had killed him. 

24. cousin. According to Holinshed Macbeth was Duncan's 
first cousin. 

1 Camden, Britannia, ed. 1590, p. 718. 



Scene II] Notes 171 

27, 28. So . . . swells. Just as storms come from the east, 
where the sun rises, so trouble, i.e. a fresh battle, arises from the vic- 
tory of Macbeth which seemed a source of comfort to his nation. 

29. justice . . , with valour arni'd. The reference, of course, 
is to Macbeth. 

31. Norweyan lord. Sweno, king of Norway, who is here for 
the first time alluded to. 

31. surveying vantage, spying a good opportunity. Sweno 
thought it a good time to attack Macbeth when the former was 
wearied with his battle against the rebels. 

32. furbisJid arms, the reference is to the bright arms of the 
fresh Norwegians as contrasted with the battered and blood-stained 
weapons of Macbeth and his men. 

34. captains, probably pronounced as a word of three syllables. 
An old form of spelling, " capitain," shows this pronunciation. 

34. Yes, spoken in irony. 

38. Doubly, etc. For remarks on this disputed line, see Textual 
Notes, page 247. 

40. memorize another Golgotha, make the field of battle as 
famous for bloodshed as was Calvary. 

41. I cannot tell, I do not know what to say. 

45. For the scansion of this line, see Textual Notes, page 248. 

45. thane, an old English title of rank. It meant, first of all, a ser- 
vant, then a servant of the king, and finally a nobleman. The title 
was retained in Scotland after it had been exchanged in England 
for that of earl. In the last scene of Macbeth we find Malcolm 
promoting his thanes to be earls. 

50. fan our people cold, strike the chill of fear into the hearts of 
our people. 

54. Bellond's bridegroom, Macbeth, whose courage fitted him to 
be a mate for Bellona, the Goddess of War. lapped in proof, clad in 
proved armor. 

55. Confronted him zvith self-comparisons. Macbeth met the 
Norse king in hand-to-hand fight, and proved a match for him. 



172 Notes [Act 1 

56. rebellious. It is not exactly accurate to speak of Sweno's 
sword as " rebellious." He was an invader, not a rebel; but he was 
assisted by the rebel Cawdor, and so the adjective is not altogether 
inappropriate. 

61. Saint Colme's inch, the " inch," or island, of St. Colme, or Co- 
lumba, a little island in the Firth of Forth. We may imagine that 
the Norwegian ships were lying in the Firth, and that after Sweno's 
defeat he fled to them. Then, in order to secure the bodies of his 
dead warriors, he paid down ten thousand dollars at the abbey on 
the island. 

64. Our bosom interest, our dear friendship. As Duncan's words 
in i. 4. 11-14 show, Cawdor had been completely trusted by the 
king. 

ACT I. SCENE III 

With this scene the real action of the play begins. The first 
scene brought the witches before us ; the second gave us a noble 
picture of Macbeth. Now the two parties, the tempters and the 
tempted, meet, and from their meeting and the witches' prophecy 
proceed directly all the remaining events of the story. The witches 
awaken in Macbeth the passion of ambition, which henceforth 
is the mainspring of his action. But we must not think that 
they in any way enchant Macbeth or compel him to do their 
evil will. After the meeting, as before, he is a free man, and 
can act or refrain from action as he sees fit. This is shown, in part 
at least, by the fact that Banquo, although also greeted by the 
witches with prophecies of future honour for his house, is not led 
on to any crime to make good the prophecy. There is some- 
thing in Macbeth's own heart that receives and answers the greeting 
of the witches. This is Shakespeare's way of writing tragedy ; 
he makes the fate of his men and women depend upon their own 
characters, not upon chance or outside influences. 

In the first thirty -seven lines of the scene, the witches recount to 
each other the evil deeds in which they have been engaged since 



Scene in] Notes 173 

their last meeting. It is worth noting that these deeds are petty 
and vulgar ; but just as every good deed — even the giving of a 
cup of cold water, — is a blessed thing, so every evil deed — even 
the killing of swine — is a delight to the powers of evil. This 
conversation, moreover, serves to identify the "weird sisters " of 
the play with the familiar witches of Elizabethan superstition. 

2. Killing szvine. One of the commonest charges brought against 
supposed witches in Shakespeare's day was that they maliciously 
killed by pestilence, or the evil eye, the domestic animals of those 
they had a grudge against. 

6. rump-fed. There has been a good deal of dispute over the 
exact meaning of this phrase. The best interpretations are either 
"well-fed," "pampered," or " fat-rumped." I rather prefer the 
latter as being a coarse expression in keeping with the following 
" ronyon," i.e. scab. 

7. Aleppo, a town in Syria, not on the sea-shore as might be 
imagined from this line, but some distance in the interior. 

8. in a sieve. It was a common belief in Shakespeare's day, 
especially in Scotland, that witches possessed the power of sailing 
on the sea in a sieve. 

9. like . . . tail, in the shape of a rat without a tail. It was 
commonly believed that witches could assume the forms of animals. 
They could often, however, be detected by some physical defect. 

10. I'll do, etc. The witch does not say what she will do. The 
threat gains in force from its very vagueness. 

11. awind. Witches were supposed to have control of the winds; 
they could either call up tempests or give sailors favouring breezes. 

15. the ports they blotv. The witch controls not only the winds, 
but the harbours they blow upon. 

17. the shipment's card, either the card on which the points of 
the compass are marked, or a chart showing the direction of the 
prevailing winds along a coast. 

20. pent-house lid, the eyelid. Properly speaking the eyebrow is 
the "pent-house," i.e. the projecting roof over the window of the eye. 



174 Notes [Act I 

32. weird sisters, women of fate. " Weird," now an adjective, 
was originally a noun, Old English " wyrd," and meant " fate " or 
" destiny." Shakespeare applies the term to the witches because 
of their knowledge of the future. 

38. So foul and fair. It is more than a mere coincidence that 
the first words Macbeth speaks echo the parting chorus of the witches 
in the opening scene. Macbeth is perhaps speaking of the weather 
with its sudden alternations of storm and sunshine, or he may be 
referring to the " fair " victory on the " foul " day. To the audience, 
however, who know that the witches are even now lying in wait for 
him, the words seem to show a certain affinity with the powers of 
evil which will predispose him to yield to their temptations. In 
Macbeth himself there is this blending of " foul and fair," of crimi- 
nal and heroic qualities; and it is by playing upon the former that 
the witches work his ruin. 

39. Forres. Banquo and Macbeth are going to the king's camp 
near Forres to give an account of their victories. These words of 
Banquo are addressed to Macbeth and are spoken, of course, 
before he sees the witches. 

44,45. By each . . . lips. The witches lay their fingers on their 
lips to hush Banquo into silence. Their business is not with him, 
but w r ith Macbeth; and they will not speak to Banquo until they 
have discharged their errand. 

46. beards. Witches were generally thought of as bearded 
women. 

48. All hail, Macbeth. The witches, like ghosts, will not speak 
until they are spoken to ; but as soon as Macbeth questions them, 
they break out in their triple hail. 

48. Glamis, an old castle in Scotland, still standing. The title 
" Thane of Glamis " was hereditary in Macbeth's family. See 
line 71 of this scene. 

51. start. Macbeth starts because the witches' prophecy that 
he shall be king is an echo of his secret ambition. Indeed it 
would seem from his wife's words (i. 7. 48-52) that he had on 



Scene III] Notes 175 

some previous occasion gone so far as to plot the murder of 
Duncan. 

55. present grace, "honour," "honourable distinction," refer- 
ring to the title of Thane of Glamis, which Macbeth then enjoyed. 

56. royal hope, the hope, or expectation, of royalty. 

57. rapt. Macbeth is so struck with the greeting of the witches 
that he stands silent as in a trance, while Banquo speaks. 

65-67. Lesser . . . notie. The ambiguity of the witches' address 
to Banquo is in marked contrast to the directness of their speeches 
to Macbeth. He is to be " lesser than Macbeth " in rank, and 
" greater," because he will never be the slave of guilt ; not so 
" happy," i.e. " fortunate," because he will never be king, " hap- 
pier " because he will never fall from his estate. The prediction 
that he shall " get," i.e. " beget," kings, is also vague, since it only 
asserts that some of his descendants shall be kings. According to 
tradition, the royal house of Stuart sprang from Banquo's son, 
Fleance. 

68, 69. See Textual Notes, page 249. 

71. SineVs. Sinel was Macbeth's father. 

73. A prosperous gentleman. This statement has been supposed 
to be inconsistent with the fact that Cawdor was a traitor and had 
already been condemned to death. But there is no need of taking 
it for granted that Cawdor was present at the battle between Mac- 
beth and Sweno, and certainly Macbeth knew nothing of the 
sentence which had been pronounced against him. 

79-82. Note the different way in which the sudden vanishing of 
the witches affects Banquo and Macbeth. The former is only sur- 
prised ; the latter regrets that they did not remain to tell him more. 

84. eaten on the insane root, eaten of the root which causes 
insanity. The root of hemlock was in Shakespeare's day supposed 
to make men see visions, and this may be the plant alluded to. 

86, 87. Your children, etc. Macbeth cannot free his mind from 
the predictions of the witches, but he carefully avoids mentioning 
the most startling of them. 



176 



Notes [Act I 



88. Scan : 

To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here ? 

92, 93. His wonders, etc. Duncan is divided between wonder at 
Macbeth's deeds and the desire of giving them their due meed of 
praise. 

93. silenced with that, reduced to silence by this conflict between 
admiration and the desire to praise. 

97. Strange images of death, terribly mangled corpses, such as 
Macdonwald's must have been after Macbeth had " unseamed him 
from the nave to the chaps." 

98. post with post, messenger after messenger. For the text of 
this much disputed passage, see Textual Notes, page 249. 

107. devil in this line is pronounced as a monosyllable like the 
Scotch " deil." 

108. 109. dress me In borrowed robes, adorn me with honours that 
are not mine. 

109. Who zvas the thane, he who formerly was the thane. 
Cawdor had already been deprived of his rank and possessions. 

no. under heavy judgement, under sentence of death. 
III. This line is an Alexandrine. 
120. trusted home, completely trusted. 

126. In deepest consequence, in matters of the greatest impor- 
tance. 

128. the swelling act, the performance developing in my mind. 

129. imperial theme, theme of empire. "Theme" denotes the 
subject of the "act" in line 128. 

130. This supernatural soliciting, this temptation which comes 
from supernatural beings, i.e. the witches. 

133. / am in this line should be contracted in reading into " I'm " 
to preserve the meter. 

135. unfix my hair, make my hair stand up in fright. 

137. Against the use of nature, unnaturally. 

137. Present fears, the fear of things actually present to the 



Scene ill] Notes 177 

senses. Macbeth speaks like a brave soldier who is not in the 
least afraid of enemies present in flesh and blood, but who may 
be greatly alarmed by the thought of some impending evil. The 
" horrible imaginings " refer, of course, to the thoughts already 
rising in his mind of the murder of Duncan. 

140. my single state of man, my whole mind. " Single " is here 
used in the sense of "undivided," "harmonious," and "state of 
man " is equivalent to " man's kingdom," i.e. the mind. 

143. If chance, etc. In this speech, as in the following, we see 
Macbeth pushing aside the murderous thoughts that are crowding 
into his mind. He determines to leave the fulfilment of the oracle 
to chance or fate, and to bide his time. He remains in this frame 
of mind until he hears Duncan proclaim Malcolm heir to the 
kingdom. 

144. New honours. Banquo attributes Macbeth's absent-minded- 
ness to his absorption in his new honours, i.e. the title and estates 
of Cawdor. 

147. Time . . . day. The hardest day must have an end. Mac- 
beth means that however rough the road to the throne may be, 
Time will finally bring him there. 

148. we stay upon your leisure, we are waiting for you. Note 
the habitual courtesy of Banquo's language. 

149. Give me your favour, pardon me. 

150. With things forgotten. Macbeth, roused from his reverie by 
Banquo's speech, pretends that he has been trying to recall some 
events of the past. The almost involuntary lie is a sign of the 
guilty nature of his thoughts. 

153. at more lime, at a better opportunity. 

154. The ijiterim having weighed it. The interim, i.e. the time 
between the present and the future interview, is here personified 
and represented as weighing or considering what had chanced, 
that is, of course, the witches' prophecy. 



MACBETH — 12 



178 



Notes [Act 1 



ACT I. SCENE IV 



This scene is supposed to be laid in the royal palace at Forres. 
The time is perhaps on the morning after the events recorded in 
the previous scenes. The chief purpose of the scene is to bring 
Macbeth and Duncan together and, by showing the touching 
gratitude of the old monarch toward his chief warrior, to give us 
a double sense of the wickedness of the crime which Macbeth 
is already meditating against his sovereign. 

Two incidents in the scene contribute directly to the perpetra- 
tion of this crime. The first of these is Duncan's proclamation of 
his son, Malcolm, as heir to the throne. So long as no heir was 
named it was possible for Macbeth to wait patiently, hoping that 
at the king's death, which could not be far distant, he might be 
chosen as his successor. But the nomination of Malcolm implied 
that all the nobles must take an oath to support his succession to 
his father's throne; and thus Macbeth feels that it will no longer 
be possible to wait for chance to crown him. If he is to be king at 
all, he must make himself king. The second incident is Duncan's 
sudden resolve to visit Macbeth's castle. This step puts him into 
Macbeth's hands and offers such an opportunity for the murder as 
may not occur again. Macbeth realizes this, and under pretense of 
hurrying home to make preparation for the king, departs to consult 
with his wife as to what should be done. 

2. Those in commission, the committee of nobles entrusted 
with the execution of Cawdor. It was common in Shakespeare's 
day to intrust the trial of important personages to a special com- 
mission. 

9. studied. The phrase is, perhaps, taken from the technical 
language of the theatre. Cawdor played his part on the scaffold 
like an actor who has studied his part well ; he had, so to speak, 
rehearsed his death. 

11-14. There 's . . . trust. Note the tragic irony of the situation. 
Duncan is lamenting that he had been so deceived in Cawdor. At 



Scene IV] Notes 1 79 

this moment Macbeth enters, and Duncan turns to greet this far 
more dangerous enemy with a glad welcome. 

14. A foot is wanting in this line. The lack is due to the pause 
on Macbeth's entrance. 

18-20. Would . . . mine! I wish that you had done less for 
me so that I might be able to thank and pay you proportionately. 

22-27. The service, etc. We should not consider this speech of 
Macbeth as a pure piece of hypocrisy. He has, indeed, contem- 
plated the possibility of murdering Duncan, but he has decided to 
wait and trust to chance. And now, at the affectionate welcome 
of the old king, his natural impulse of loyalty breaks out, and, for 
the time at least, he means what he says. 

27. Safe toward, with a sure regard to. 

28. I have begun to plant thee, the allusion is to the title and 
estates of Cawdor which Duncan has bestowed on Macbeth. 

29. make thee full of growing, make thee grow to full height. 
29, 30. Noble Banquo, etc. Note the royal courtesy of the king's 

speech to Banquo. He has greeted Macbeth, his kinsman, first; 
but he does not mean to slight Macbeth's fellow-soldier. 

34. Wanton in fulness, capricious because they are full. 

35. drops of sorrow, tears. There is something very pathetic in 
the figure of the good old king weeping for very joy as he stands 
between the two warriors, one of whom is to murder him and the 
other to let the murder go unrevenged. 

36. whose places are the nearest, who are next to the king in 
rank. 

37. establish our estate, settle the succession to the throne. 

39. Prince of Ctcmberland. Cumberland, a county in the north- 
west of England, was for a long time held by the Scotch under the 
suzerainty of England. The title, Prince of Cumberland, like that 
of Prince of Wales to-day, served to distinguish the heir to the 
throne. 

39, 40. which . . . only. He, Malcolm, must not be the only 
man to be invested with a new title of honour. 



180 Notes [Act I 

42. Inverness, a town in Scotland, some twenty or twenty-five 
miles from Forres. Macbeth is supposed to have had a castle here, 
and as a mark of royal favour Duncan now proposes to visit him. 

43. bind us further to you, lay us under still greater obligations 
to you, i.e. by acting as our host at Inverness. 

44. The rest, etc. The leisure time which is not spent in your 
service is no leisure, but rather labour. It may be that this stilted 
compliment marks the agitation -of Macbeth's mind. We see a few 
lines below that he has resumed his plan of the murder. 

45. harbinger, originally a messenger sent ahead to provide a 
lodging for a king on his travels. 

47. My worthy Cawdor. Duncan bids farewell to Macbeth by 
his new title and then turns to Banquo. This gives Macbeth an 
opportunity before he leaves the stage for the ' aside ' of lines 48-53. 
This ' aside,' it should be noted, represents the thoughts that are 
passing through Macbeth's mind, rather than any words actually 
spoken. 

48-53. The Prince . . . see. Macbeth realizes that the naming 
of Malcolm as heir-apparent leaves him no other choice than that 
between renouncing his ambition or taking violent action to realize 
it. He is by no means disposed to abandon his hopes of the crown, 
and instantly his heart is filled anew with "black and deep desires," 
which he fears to expose to the light. 

52. The eye wink at the hattd, let the eye refuse to see what the 
hand is doing. It is as if Macbeth already saw himself stabbing 
the king, and wished to close his eyes to the sight. 

54. he is full so valiant, he is quite as brave as you say. Banquo 
seems to have been telling Duncan of some brave deed of Macbeth. 

57. Whose care. Macbeth's carefulness for the king's welfare is 
here personified by the kindly monarch, and thought of as a har- 
binger riding ahead to prepare a welcome for him. 



Scene V] Notes 1 8 1 



ACT I. SCENE V 

With this scene a new figure appears upon the stage. It is un- 
necessary to repeat here what has been said in the Introduction as 
to the character of Lady Macbeth ; but we may note the striking 
fashion in which that character is revealed to us. The lady enters 
reading a letter in which her husband tells of 'his encounter with 
the witches, and of their prophetic greeting. He has already 
made inquiries as to the witches, and has learned that their 
prophecies always come true. 1 So he writes to her that she may 
rejoice in the greatness that is promised to her as the future queen. 
It is interesting to note that there is no suggestion in the letter of 
any criminal attempt to hasten the fulfilment of the oracle. 
Macbeth must have written while in the same mood of half-formed 
resolve to bide his time that marks the close of scene 3. But 
Lady Macbeth has no intention of waiting for chance to crown her. 
She prefers "the nearest way," that of speedy and violent action. 
As yet she knows nothing of the obstacle which the proclamation 
of Malcolm as heir-apparent puts between Macbeth and the crown. 
The only obstacle she sees lies in the character of her husband. 
He is ambitious, but is unwilling to play false to attain the objects 
of his ambition. Yet she is so sure of her influence over him that 
she prays he may return speedily, in order that she may inspire him 
to action and drive out any scruples that may bar the way to his 
goal. When she hears of Duncan's approaching visit, she realizes 
instantly that Fate has delivered the king into her husband's hands, 
and invokes the powers of evil to strengthen her for the terrible 

1 Macbeth must have made these inquiries immediately after the en- 
counter with the witches, and before his meeting with Duncan, since 
there is no reference in his letter to Duncan's approaching visit. We 
may imagine that Macbeth found some one at Forres who had already 
had dealings with the witches, and who could assure him of their credi- 
bility. 



1 82 Notes [Act I 

deed that must be done at once. On Macbeth's arrival she takes 
the matter into her own hands ; she does not argue or persuade, but 
with quiet determination assures him that Duncan will never leave 
their castle alive, and that she will arrange all the details. Macbeth 
is, as it were, stunned by her decision. He has, indeed, meditated 
the murder of his master; but he has by no means decided upon 
it, and he would like more time for consideration. His wife, how- 
ever, cuts the scene short, bidding him show a friendly face to his 
royal guest and leave all the rest to her. 

1. From the abruptness with which the scene begins, we must 
fancy that Lady Macbeth has already read a part of the letter 
before she comes on the stage. Perhaps, when she came to the 
prophecy of the witches, she felt that she must be alone, and with- 
drew from the hall of the castle to the chamber in which the scene 
takes place. 

2. the perfectest report, the most accurate information. 

9, io. referred me to the coming on of time, directed me to the 
future. 

13. dues of rejoicing, the due, or natural, joy. 

18. the milk of human kindness, the gentleness of humanity, of 
human nature. Lady Macbeth knows her husband well enough 
to feel sure that, however brave he is on the field of battle, he will 
hesitate to commit a murder. Compare Macbeth's own words 
when the idea of the crime enters his mind, i. 3. 134-7. 

21. The illness should attend it, the wickedness, or at least the 
unscrupulousness, which must go along with ambition, if the ambi- 
tion is to be gratified. 

21, 22. what thou . . . holily, the high objects which you aim 
at, you would like to gain innocently. 

24. That which cries. The best interpretation of this much dis- 
puted passage is probably that which takes " that " as referring to 
Duncan's death. The passage may then be paraphrased as fol- 
lows : " Thou wouldst like to have, great Glamis, that [the death of 
Duncan] which cries 'Thus thou must do [kill Duncan] if thou 



Scene V] Notes 1 83 

art to have it, [the crown], and that [the murder] is a thing which 
thou dost rather fear to do thyself than wishest to be left undone." 

28. chastise. The accent is on the first syllable. 

29. the golden round, the crown. 

30. 31. doth seem . . . withal, seems about to crown you with. 
32. comes here to-night. It seems for the moment so impossible 

that the opportunity for instant action can thus be placed in her 
hands that Lady Macbeth exclaims that the messenger must be 
crazy. 

34. informed for preparation, given me the news so that I 
might prepare. 

36. had the speed of, outstripped. 

39. The raven, a bird of ill omen. 

40. entrance, pronounced like a word of three syllables, " enter- 
ance." 

41. Come, you spirits, etc. Note how Lady Macbeth nerves 
herself to meet the terrible strain of the coming night. It is plain 
from line 53 that she means to commit the murder herself. And 
that she may be strong enough in mind and body to do so, she 
invokes all the spirits that delight in thoughts and deeds of blood 
to strip her of her woman's weakness and fill her with the power of 
evil. Note the pause in the line before the invocation begins. 

44. thick, coarse, unfeeling, and so the readier for deeds of 
cruelty. 

46. compunctious visitings of nature, natural feelings of pity. 

47, 48. keep peace . . . it, interpose between the " effect," i.e. the 
murder, and her purpose to commit it. 

49. take my milk for gall, turn my kindliness (cf. line 18 above) 
into bitterness. 

49. murdering ministers, servants, or instruments, of murder. 

50. sightless substances, invisible forms. 

51. nature's mischief, all that is evil in nature. 

56. the all-hail hereafter. Lady Macbeth unconsciously echoes 
the words of the third witch in i. 3. $0. 



1 84 Notes [Act 1 

58. This ignorant present, either " this present which is ignorant 
of the glory that awaits it," or " this obscure, inglorious present." 
The second seems somewhat the better meaning. The metre of 
this line is somewhat irregular. " Ignorant " must be pronounced 
almost like a word of two syllables ; and there is a heavy stress on 
the words " feel " and " now " which necessitates a slight pause 
between them. We may scan as follows : 

^» ^ x» y ^ 

This ignorant present and I feel now. 

59. in the instant, at this moment. 

64, 65. To beguile . . . like the time, in order to deceive the world, 
appear with a smiling face as the present occasion requires. 

69. into my dispatch, into my management. 

71. solely sovereign sway, undisputed royal power. 

72-74. Macbeth is still undecided; he can neither accept nor 
reject the situation. His wife, however, does not deign to discuss 
the matter any further. She only repeats her injunction to beware 
of showing his thoughts in his face. 

73, 74. To alter favour . . . fear. To change the expression 
or the colour of one's face is always a sign of fear. 

ACT I. SCENE VI 

This scene brings Duncan, in the early evening, to Macbeth's 
castle. We may note first the 'irony of situation' in Duncan's 
praising the " pleasant seat " of the castle where he is to meet a 
sudden and bloody end; and secondly, the effective character con- 
trast between the gentle, unsuspicious courtesy of the king, and the 
feigned humility and hypocritical welcome of Lady Macbeth. No- 
where in the play does she appear so repulsive as here where she is 
leading Duncan on to his death, with speeches of mock loyalty. 

I. Note the natural and easy way in which the king is introduced. 
He is at peace with himself and all mankind, Banquo seems to 



Scene vi] Notes 185 

have caught the king's mood, and answers him in the same tone. 
Compare the impression that is given here of the castle, its beautiful 
situation, its nesting martlets, and its " delicate air," with the totally 
different impression given in Lennox's speech (ii. 3. 59-66) of the 
terrible night that followed, with its fierce storms, strange screams 
of death, and its gloomy and long-delayed dawn (ii. 4. 6-9). In 
both scenes the natural surroundings reflect the temper of men's 
minds. 

3. our gentle senses, our senses which are soothed by the sweet 
air; cf. iii. 4. 76. 

5. By his loved mansionry, by making it his favourite nesting- 
place. 

6. A foot is lacking in this line. It is possible that some word 
or phrase has dropped out of the text; but if the line be read with 
a marked pause after " here," the rhythmical effect is not unpleasant. 

7. coign of vantage, convenient corner. 

11-14. The love . . . trouble. The love that attends us is some- 
times troublesome, but still we thank it because it is love. In 
saying this I teach you how to receive our troublesome visit; you 
should pray God to reward us, and you should thank us yourself, 
because the visit, which entails this trouble, is a proof of our affec- 
tion. The compliment is somewhat formal but undoubtedly sincere. 

16. poor and single business to contend, a small matter to compare. 

20. hermits, holy men bound to pray for their benefactors. 

22. purveyor, originally a messenger sent before to provide food 
for the king and his train. 

26. theirs . . . theirs. The first " theirs " means " their family " ; 
the second " their property." 

28. Still to return your own, always bound to return to you what 
was originally yours. 

30. our, here pronounced as a dissyllable. 

31. By your leave. Duncan takes Lady Macbeth's hand and 
leads her into the castle. 



1 86 Notes [Act i 



ACT I. SCENE VII 

This is perhaps the most important single scene of the play. 
Here for the last time we see Macbeth a free man, still capable of 
choice between good and evil. . The motives that are at work to 
deter him from committing the murder, fear of the consequences in 
this world, mingled feelings of kinship, loyalty, and hospitality, ad- 
miration for Duncan's goodness, are not, perhaps, of the highest 
moral character; but in comparison with the reckless lust of power 
which urges him on, they are certainly motives for good. The con- 
flict rages in his soul, and it seems as if the powers of good were 
triumphing, when Lady Macbeth enters. Instantly she throws into 
the scale all the weight of her influence, backed by a relentless 
decision to contemplate nothing but the immediate necessity for 
action. Macbeth wavers for an instant, and then, not so much 
overpersuaded, as stung into action by the taunts of his wife, 
plunges headlong into the crime. From this time till the end of 
the play Macbeth is no longer a free man. All his remaining 
actions spring by the logical necessity of crime from his first deed 
of blood. 

I. Note the double meaning of " done " in this line : in the first 
instance it means "finished," in the second "performed." Mac- 
beth's meaning, which he goes on to illustrate through the next 
seven lines, is that if the whole matter could be settled by one 
blow, it would be well to strike that blow quickly. 

4. his surcease, its cessation. " His " is generally used instead 
of the modern " its " in Shakespeare. The antecedent is probably 
" consequence " in the preceding line. The passage may be para- 
phrased thus : " If the murder could ensnare the consequences, so 
as to prevent them from occurring, and by stopping them catch 
success, it would indeed be well to act quickly." 

4. that but this blow, if just this blow. 

6. But here, only here. 

8. have judgement here } receive our sentence in this life. 



Scene vii] Notes 1 87 

9. Bloody instructions, lessons in bloodshed. 
14. Strong both, both strong arguments. 

21. pity. In this passage where the wild emotions of Macbeth's 
mind are struggling for utterance, one metaphor crowds upon and 
displaces another. " Pity " is first personified as a newborn infant, 
naked and miserable, such as would appeal to the sympathy of all 
men; then this infant bestrides the wind for a charger to carry the 
news of Duncan's murder throughout the world. This figure of a 
messenger seated upon the wind calls up a confused memory of a 
verse of the Bible {Psalms, xviii. 10.) to Macbeth's mind, and his 
imagination embodies pity as an angel riding on the wind. 

22. cherubin, Shakespeare always uses this form as a singular. 

23. sightless couriers of the air, invisible airy messengers, the 
winds. The angel is represented like a royal messenger riding 
post, i.e. changing from horse to horse to carry his message the 
faster. See Textual Notes, p. 252. 

24. blow the horrid deed in every eye, proclaim the murder in the 
presence of all men. 

25. tears shall drown the wind. The figure is taken from a burst 
of rain which lays the wind. 

25. I have no spur. Here again we have a mixture of metaphors 
due to the conflict of emotions in Macbeth's mind. He thinks of 
his purpose to murder Duncan as a charger; but he has no spur, 
i.e. no good motive, to urge it into action and so it stands still. 
Instantly the figure changes and his ambition is pictured as a rider 
springing into his saddle, who overleaps himself and falls on the 
other side of his steed. Macbeth means that his ambition to be 
king would, if it led him to murder Duncan, carry him too far. 

28. An accented syllable is missing in the third foot. Some edi- 
tors have wished to supply " side "; but it is better to think of the 
speech as interrupted by the entrance of Lady Macbeth. 

29. Why have you left the chamber ? Macbeth, conscious of his 
guilty wish, has been unable to remain in the presence of his bene- 
factor. Duncan has noticed his absence and asked for him. Lady 



1 88 Notes [Act I 

Macbeth, under the pretense of recalling him to the banquet, comes 
to confirm him in his purpose. Her speeches in this scene should 
be most carefully studied. A careful analysis of them will show 
how she plays upon Macbeth's feelings and appeals to the strongest 
motives. She taunts him first with irresolution and lack of love 
for her. She charges him with cowardice, — the bitterest possible 
charge for a soldier to endure from the woman he loves. She 
appeals to him to keep the vow he has sworn, and declares that she 
would have stopped at no crime if she had taken such an oath. 
Finally seeing that the chief, perhaps the only, cause that holds 
Macbeth back from the deed is a fear, not only of failure in the 
attempt, but of the consequences in case of its accomplishment, 
she points out a plan by which the murder may be safely committed 
and the consequences shifted upon the shoulders of others. 

34. would be worn, should be, ought to be, worn. 

35. cast aside, as they would be if Macbeth exchanged his fame 
as a warrior for a murderer's infamy. 

35, 36. drunk . . . dress'd yourself, another mixture of meta- 
phors. " Hope " is first presented as a person intoxicated with the 
prospect of success, and then a robe in which Macbeth arrayed 
himself. The latter figure is caught from his own phrase of " wear- 
ing golden opinions " in the preceding speech. 

37. green and pale, sickly and pale, as a man might look on wak- 
ing from a drunken slumber. 

38. At what it did so freely, at what it, i.e. " hope," faced so 
boldly before it fell asleep. 

39. Such, so " green and pale " ; i.e. so sickly and weak. She 
declares that she will henceforth consider his love for her no 
stronger nor more enduring than his weak ambition for the crown. 

42. the ornament of life. This phrase may either refer to the 
crown or to the " golden opinions " of line 33. The latter interpre- 
tation is probably the better. 

45. the adage. A familiar proverb in Shakespeare's day ran : 
" The cat would eat fish, and would not wet her feet." 



Scene VII] Notes 189 

46. / dare do all, etc. Note how bitterly Macbeth resents the 
taunt of cowardice. 

47. Who dares . . . none. He who dares do more than is 
proper for a man, is unhuman. , 

48. 49. It seems plain from these lines that at some period 
before the beginning of the play Macbeth had actually proposed to 
his wife the murder of Duncan. She seems to have induced him to 
abandon the project as ill-timed, cf. lines 51, 52. Now she reverts 
to this occasion in order to stimulate him to action at the present 
favourable opportunity, reminding him, lines 58, 59, of the oath that 
he had sworn to kill the king. 

50. to be more than what you were, by being more than you then 
were, by actually performing the deed which you then dared to 
propose. 

52. you would make both, you wanted to force time and place 
into accordance with your plan for the murder. It is highly char- 
acteristic of Macbeth that his first plan for murdering Duncan was 
rash and unsuitable. As the report of his deeds in battle shows, 
he was a headstrong and impetuous warrior. His wife, on the 
other hand, was a cool and determined nature ; she waited for a 
good opportunity and then struck home. Observe that it is she, 
not Macbeth, who plans the details of the treacherous murder. 

53. that their fitness, their very fitness. 

54. Does unmake you, renders you incapable of action. 

59. If we should fail ? Macbeth reverts to his old anxiety as to 
the consequences of the deed, or rather as to the consequences of 
an unsuccessful attempt. Lady Macbeth's answer has been vari- 
ously interpreted. It may be rendered either as a contemptuous 
question, or as a scornful exclamation with the accent on " we," or 
lastly as a real answer to her husband's question. " What will 
happen if we fail?" he asks ; "We fail, and that's the end of the 
matter and of us," she answers. I prefer this last interpretation as 
eminently characteristic of the cool determination of Lady Macbeth, 
who can look even failure in the face. Note, however, that she 



190 Notes [Act 11 

will not dwell upon the possibility of failure for fear of discouraging 
her husband ; she goes on at once to assure him of the practical 
certainty of success. 

60. But screw, etc. But brace your courage up to the point 
where it holds fast. The metaphor is, perhaps, taken from the 
screwing up of the string of a crossbow. 

65. memory, the warder. According to old anatomists the faculty 
of memory was situated in the hindmost part of the brain by which 
that organ is connected with the rest of the body. Memory stands 
therefore like a warder, or guard, at the gate of the brain. Drunken- 
ness turns memory into a " fume," i.e. a mere smoke, and this rises 
into that part of the brain where the reason is situated, " the re- 
ceipt," i.e. receptacle, " of reason," as the fumes from a retort rise 
into the " limbec," i.e. alembic or cap, of the vessel. 

68. lies, an old plural form of the verb, called the Northern plural, 
from its occurrence in the Northern dialects of England. It appears 
very frequently in Shakespeare, but is often altered without comment 
by the editors into our modern form. 

70. put upon, attribute to. 

78. As we shall make, seeing that we shall make. 

80. Each corporal agent, every bodily power. 

ACT II. SCENE I 

The second act is devoted wholly to the murder of Duncan. 
There is practically no time interval between this and the preced- 
ing act. It begins after midnight on the day of the king's arrival 
at Inverness, with a scene devoted to the preliminaries of the murder, 
and closes late in the following day with a scene telling us of the 
immediate consequences of the deed, the flight of the princes and 
the election of Macbeth to the sovereignty. 

The first scene falls into three parts ; the dialogue between 
Banquo and his son, the dialogue between Macbeth and Banquo, 
and the soliloquy of Macbeth before the murder. It is laid in the 



Scene I] Notes 191 

inner court of Macbeth's castle, from which there was easy access 
to the bedchambers by means of the gallery that surrounded the 
court. Banquo is on his way to bed, accompanied by his son, who 
bears the torch. On his way he hands over to Fleance his sword 
(line 4) and perhaps his dagger (line 5), which he will not need 
to have by his bedside in a friendly house. 

5. thee, to thyself, the dative of interest. 

6. A heavy summons, a drowsy influence. 

7. / would not sleep. Banquo's reason for wishing to remain 
awake is given in the next lines. On the night before this he had 
dreamt of the witches (1. 20), and their prophecy has seemed to 
him, in his sleep, a temptation to evil. This explains his prayer 
to heaven to restrain " the cursed thoughts." Shakespeare, no 
doubt, means us to contrast the two figures who appear in this 
scene, both tried by the same temptation, Banquo praying against 
its power over even his hours of sleep, Macbeth waking, and 
watching to turn its suggestions into deeds. 

9. Gives way to, gives free rein to. 

9. my sword. It marks, perhaps, the excited state of Banquo's 
mind, that when he sees the light of Macbeth's torch, he at once 
calls to Fleance to return him his sword. 

16. shut up, concluded, i.e. finished the banquet, and went to 
bed. Note the irony of the situation as described in these lines. 

17-19. Being unprepared . . . wrought. Since I was taken 
by surprise, my desire, to entertain the king fittingly, was impeded 
by unavoidable deficiencies; otherwise, it would have displayed 
itself at full, liberally. 

19. Airs well. Banquo assures Macbeth that his entertainment 
has been suitable. 

22. entreat an hour to serve, beg an hour of your time for our 
service. Note how Macbeth in this speech adopts unconsciously 
the royal mode of speaking of himself in the plural. He know r s 
that when he has this conversation with Banquo he will be king 5 
and speaks as if he were already crowned. 



192 Notes [Act 11 

25. cleave to my consent. Macbeth is throwing out a line, so to 
speak, for Banquo. " If you join my party," he says, " you'll gain 
new honours by so doing." 

25. When 'tis. This phrase is purposely obscure ; Macbeth does 
not care to speak out plainly. We may take it, however, as refer- 
ring to the proposed conference on the subject of the witches' 
prophecy. 

26-29. S° ■? lose . . . counselled. It is hard to decide just what 
was in the mind of Banquo when he uttered these words. He 
may possibly have suspected Macbeth of wishing to form some con- 
spiracy against the king. In this case he wished to give him a 
friendly but emphatic warning that he would be no party to it. 
" I'll take your advice," he says, referring to Macbeth's phrase, 
' cleave to my consent,' " so long as I do not forfeit thereby my 
character as an honourable man, but still keep my heart free from 
guilt and my loyalty to my king unstained." 

29. Macbeth sees that nothing is to be gained from Banquo, and 
closes the conversation. 

32. The bell is really to let Macbeth know that everything is in 
readiness for the murder. 

33-64. In this long soliloquy we find Macbeth, whose mind is 
wrought almost to madness by the deed he is about to perpetrate, 
the victim of a hallucination. He thinks for a moment that he actu- 
ally sees a dagger floating before him; but with a strong effort he re- 
covers his self-possession and pronounces the vision unreal. Then 
he plunges into a gloomy reverie, illumined by lightning flashes of 
poetic imagination. He is roused from this mood by the sound of 
the signal for action, and without hesitating longer hurries to Dun- 
can's chamber. 

44, 45. Mine eyes . . . rest. If the dagger is unreal, his eyes, 
which testify to its presence, are pronounced foolish by his other 
senses. If on the contrary, the dagger is really there, the tes- 
timony of his eyes is more reliable than that of his other 
senses. 



Scene II] Notes 193 

46. Notice how the dagger seems to grow more real to Macbeth; 
he can now distinguish drops of blood on its blade and handle. 

48. the bloody business, the murder, which is occupying his mind, 
seems to take visible shape in the form of a dagger. 

51. An unaccented syllable is lacking in the third foot of this 
line. Its place is taken by the pause between two clauses. 
" Sleep " is here personified as a man resting in a curtained bed. 
Evil dreams play about him and deceive his mind. 

52. Hecate, one of the many names of Diana. In Shake- 
speare's day she was regarded as the goddess and queen of 
the witches. Shakespeare always pronounces her name as two 
syllables. 

52. withered murder, murder is here personified as a gaunt and 
ghostlike man. 

53. Alarum 1 d, called to arms. The word comes from the 
Italian phrase all 'arme, " to arms." 

54. Whose howl's his watch, the long howl of the wolf is thought 
of as the call of a sentinel upon his watch. 

55. Tarquin 1 s, Sextus Tarquin who ravished Lucretia. The 
adjective " ravishing " is transferred from Tarquin to the " strides " 
that took him into Lucretia's chamber. 

57. Hear not . . . take. Hear not the direction my steps 
take, i.e. toward Duncan's chamber. Macbeth fancies in his over- 
wrought mood that if the very stones of the courtyard knew which 
way he was going they would cry out and reveal his presence. 

59. take the present horror, take away, by their outcry, the pre- 
vailing silence, " present horror," which so befits the time. 

61. gives, another instance of the Northern plural. The line 
means that words blow cold upon the heat of action. 

ACT II. SCENE II 

There is really no change of scene here. Lady Macbeth enters 
the courtyard as Macbeth leaves it and waits there for his return 
MACBETH — 1 3 



194 Notes [Act ii 

from Duncan's chamber. Her soliloquy fills up the time during 
which the murder is performed and her dialogue with her husband 
on his return carries us on till the knocking at the gate shows that 
the day is dawning and the inmates of the castle awaking. 

i. That which, etc. Lady Macbeth has fortified herself with a 
draught of wine against the strain of these terrible hours. This is 
another proof of her physical weakness. 

3. bellman. It was common in Shakespeare's day to send the 
bellman, i.e. the night watchman, to spend the last night with a 
man condemned to death. The cry of the owl over Duncan's 
chamber seems to Lady Macbeth like the bellman's warning that 
the hours of life are numbered. 

4. the stern'st good-night. The grimmest good-night, or fare- 
well. The owl's cry was then and long afterward considered an 
omen of death. 

4. He is about it. Macbeth is actually committing the murder. 

5. The doors are open. Lady Macbeth must have unlocked the 
doors into Duncan's room. Her words in lines 1 1, 12 show that 
she had been in this room after the king had gone to sleep. 

5. the surfeited grooms, the drunken attendants of the king. 

6. mock their charge, turn their care of the king's person into 
a mockery. 

7. 8. The sleeping-potion which Lady Macbeth had mingled in 
the possets was so strong that the grooms were half poisoned by it. 

8. Who's there? Macbeth utters these words as he is returning 
from Duncan's chamber. As he says in line 14, he heard a noise, 
and he probably thought for a moment that some one had sur- 
prised him. See Textual Notes, p. 253. 

10. the attempt and not the deed, an unsuccessful attempt. 

12. Had he not resembled. This reference to her father is one 
of the few traces of womanly feeling that Lady Macbeth shows. 
It is a genuinely Shakespearean touch which saves even so wicked 
a character from utter inhumanity. 

18. Hark! This line is usually accompanied in stage repre- 



Scene II] Notes 195 

sentations by a clap of thunder. This really detracts from the 
horror of the scene. Macbeth's nerves are so overwrought that 
he starts at imaginary noises. His next words show that he fancies 
he has heard a voice. 

19. the second chamber, the room next to Duncan's. 

19. Donalbain, the second son of Duncan, here mentioned for 
the first time. 

22. There's. Macbeth is perhaps referring to the "second 
chamber." As he descended he heard some people in it talking 
in their sleep. 

24. addressed them, turned themselves. 

25. two lodged together. Lady Macbeth, who is trying to quiet 
her husband, remarks calmly that there are two men sleeping in 
the second chamber, Donalbain and an attendant. 

27. hangman's hands, bloody hands. In Shakespeare's day the 
hangman not only adjusted the noose and pushed the victims from 
the ladder, but in cases of treason chopped up the bodies of the 
criminals. Thus this phrase suggested a vivid picture to Shake- 
speare's hearers. 

31. 'Amen? The phrase "God bless us" was used as a charm 
against witchcraft and the devil. Macbeth, who has sold himself 
to evil, cannot say amen to this prayer. 

33> 34- thought After these ways, thought of in this fashion. 

34. mad. There is a dreadful irony in these words ; Macbeth 
is half mad already ; and before the play closes, Lady Macbeth's 
strong mind breaks down utterly. Cf. v. I. 

35-40. See Textual Notes, p. 254. 

39, 40. nature's second course, Chief nourisher, etc. In Shake- 
speare's day the second course of a dinner was the most 
substantial. 

40. What do you mean ? Macbeth is talking so wildly that his 
wife cannot follow him. 

42-43. See Textual Notes, p. 254. 

44-50. Lady Macbeth tries to recall her husband from his 



196 



Notes [Act 11 



ravings by pointing out the necessity for prompt action if they 
are to escape discovery. 

47. witness, evidence ; the king's blood which would testify to 
Macbeth's guilt. 

56, 57. gild . . . guilt. The pun on "gild" and "guilt" was 
doubtless plainer to Shakespeare's hearers than to us. Gold was 
regularly spoken of in the old songs as " red." Lady Macbeth's 
ghastly jest was perhaps intended to rouse her husband to a per- 
ception of his cowardice ; he is afraid to re-enter the chamber 
of death, she is ready not only to go there, but even to jest 
about it. 

57. knocking. This knocking is explained by the dialogue of 
the next scene. De Quincey has a famous essay upon "The Knock- 
ing at the Gate in Macbeth," in which he points out that the knock- 
ing makes known that the reaction against the world of unnatural 
horror, which we have been contemplating, has commenced ; that 
the pulses of life are beginning to beat again. The whole essay 
should, if possible, be read by every student of the play. 

63. one red, entirely red. See Textual Notes, p. 255. 

67, 68. With these lines compare the broken utterances of the 
sleep-walking scene, v. 1. 35, 39, 48, 49, and 68-70. 

68, 69. Your constancy . . . unattended. Your firmness has 
deserted you. 

70. nightgown. In Shakespeare's day people went to bed 
naked. The " nightgown " was the garment they threw around 
them on first rising, corresponding to our dressing-gown. Lady 
Macbeth wants her husband to undress and put on his " nightgown " 
so that he may appear, when the alarm is given, just to have 
sprung from his bed. 

70,71. lest occasion . . . watchers, lest necessity summon us, and 
reveal the fact that we have not been in bed. 

73. To know, etc. This obscure line is an answer to Lady Mac- 
beth's reproach that he is " poorly lost " in his thoughts. Macbeth 
says in effect that he had better remain lost, " not know myself," 



Scene in] Notes 197 

than awake to a full realization of what he had done, "know my 
deed." 

74. I would thou couldst. This is the first note of genuine 
remorse that has appeared in Macbeth's speeches in this scene. 



ACT II. SCENE III 

There is no change of scene here. As Macbeth and his wife leave 
the courtyard, the porter, who has been slowly wakened from his 
drunken sleep by the repeated knocking on the gate, staggers upon 
the stage. Evidently he is not quite sober yet; he is in no hurry to 
open the gate, and he improves the time by a whimsical speech on 
the duties of the porter of hell-gate. Indeed he seems for a time 
to fancy himself in the position of that functionary, and exhausts his 
ingenuity in guessing who the malefactors may be that are so 
clamorous for admittance to the infernal regions. 

The authenticity of this scene has been denied by some famous 
critics and editors ; but there seems no good ground for any 
such suspicion. In the first place an intervening scene of this kind 
is absolutely necessary to give Macbeth time to wash his hands 
and change his dress ; in the second the porter's speech contains 
several distinctly Shakespearean phrases, " old turning of the key," 
"devil-porter it," and "the primrose way to the everlasting bon- 
fire." The jokes about the farmer, the equivocator, and the tailor, 
seem rather flat to us, but they are topical 'gags' which likely 
enough set the audience in a roar when first spoken. A 'gag' 
can hardly be expected to retain its charm for three centuries. 

1. a knocking indeed. We must imagine the scene opening 
with a rousing series of thumps from the impatient visitors who are 
standing in the cold gateway of the castle. 

2. should have, would certainly have. 

5. a farmer. The farmer is supposed to have stored up his 
grain in the hope of selling it at famine prices. When there came 



198 



Notes [Act n 



the promise of a good harvest, " expectation of plenty," and he 
saw that he would lose rather than make money, he hanged him- 
self in despair. Stories of this kind were current in Shakespeare's 
day, and there was a special timeliness in the allusion, since the 
plentiful harvest of 1606 had brought the price of wheat down 
Very low. 

6. come in time, you've come in good time. 

8. in th? other devil's name. The porter knows there is some 
other devil besides Beelzebub in the infernal court, but for the 
moment he cannot recall his name. 

9. an equivocator. This is, no doubt, an allusion to a 
notorious Jesuit, Henry Garnet, who had been tried for high 
treason in the spring of 1606. He had committed perjury on that 
occasion, and when detected had tried to excuse himself by saying 
that he had merely equivocated. Garnet's " equivocation " was, 
doubtless, a current jest at the time Macbeth was first produced. 

II. the scales, i.e. of Justice. 

11, 12. treason . . . for God's sake. There may be an allusion 
here to the Jesuit motto, ad majorem gloriam Dei. 

16. a French hose. Tailors were often accused of stealing some 
of the cloth given them to make a garment with. The tailor who 
could steal anything from the small piece of cloth necessary for the 
tight breeches, a French fashion, popular in 1606 and thereabouts, 
must have been a particularly skilful rogue. 

23. remember the porter, don't forget to tip the porter. It 
seems strange that two men of such high rank as Macduff and 
Lennox should have passed the night outside of the castle. They 
were perhaps in command of a body of royal troops. 

26, 27. the second cock, about three A.M. 

46. made a shift to cast, found a way to throw. There is a pun 
on "cast" which means both "throw" and "throw up." 

50. Not yet. Note the extreme brevity of Macbeth's speeches in 
this dialogue. He is usually a fluent and graceful talker, but now 
while he is waiting for his terrible deed to be discovered, and 



Scene in] Notes 199 

nerving himself for the part he will then have to play, he can 
hardly do more than force out a few words. 

53. this is a joyful troiible, your entertaining the king is a 
trouble that you are glad to take upon you. 

61. heard. "Were" is understood before this participle. 

62. prophesying. This word is here used, not as a participle, 
but as a noun, the subject of "were heard" in line 61. 

64. the obscure bird, the bird of darkness, the owl. " Obscure " 
is accented on the first syllable. 

73. The Lord's anointed temple, the temple of the Lord's 
anointed, that is, the body of the king. 

77. Gorgon. The Gorgons were monsters of Grecian mythology 
whose aspect turned all who saw them into stone. Macduff means 
that the figure of the murdered king is as terrible a sight as a Gorgon 
would be. 

81. death's counterfeit, the picture, or likeness, of death. 

83. The great doom's image, a picture of the Judgment Day. 
Macduff compares the horror of the murder of Duncan to those of 
the last day itself, and calls on all within the castle to rise up, as 
the dead will on the last day. Note how his extreme excitement 
finds utterance in broken ejaculations and startling figures. Scan : 

^ ^ .•» >> 

The great doom's image. Malcolm ! Banquo. 

87. hideous trumpet. Lady Macbeth compares the bell which 
has so suddenly roused the sleepers of the house to a trumpet in 
war time. 

90,91. The repetition . . . fell. The mere recital to a gentle 
lady of what has happened would be enough to kill her. Note 
how Macduff restrains himself for a moment out of consideration 
for his hostess, and then, overmastered by his horror, bursts out 
with the news to Banquo. 

96-101. Had I but died, etc. This beautiful speech of Macbeth's 
is by no means to be regarded as a piece of pure hypocrisy. He 
has no sooner committed the murder than he has been seized with 



200 Notes [Act ii 

remorse (cf. ii. 2. 74) and he seizes the opportunity to give vent to 
his feelings, well knowing that his hearers will not understand the 
full meaning of his words. 

101. this vault, the world, here compared to an empty cellar 
from which the wine has been taken. 

no. were distracted. The distraction of the grooms was no 
doubt due in part to the sleeping-potion with which their possets 
had been drugged. 

113. wherefore, etc. Note how Macduff here assumes the atti- 
tude of opposition to Macbeth which characterizes him to the very 
end. It seems as if he already suspected him of the murder. 

1 14-124. Who can be wise, etc. The pompous diction and strained 
imagery of this speech of Macbeth's is Shakespeare's way of indicat- 
ing his hypocrisy. Compare this speech with lines 96-101, where 
Macbeth is really lamenting his own ruined life, not the death of 
Duncan. 

117. the pauser reason, reason which bids us pause and not act 
hastily. 

122. Unmannerly breech 'd. The naked daggers had put on 
breeches of blood. But these breeches, instead of being decent 
coverings, were " unmannerly," i.e. indecent. 

124. Macbeth's description of the murdered king recalls to his 
wife so terrible a remembrance of the chamber of death into which 
she had stolen barely an hour before that she is unable to endure it 
and faints. This is another indication of her slight physical strength. 

128. an anger-hole, a small unnoticeable hole. Donalbain 
thinks that fate, i.e. a bloody death, may be lurking for him and 
his brother in any corner of Macbeth's castle. 

130. tipon the foot of motion, ready to move and show itself. 
These speeches of the princes are exchanged in swift whispers 
while the nobles are crowding about Lady Macbeth. The young 
men are not heartless, but their fear overmasters their sorrow, and 
their one thought is flight. 

132. our naked frailties, our half-dressed, weak bodies. The 



Scene ill] Notes 20 1 

nobles have rushed half-dressed from their rooms at the sound of 
the alarm bell, and the courtyard where they have gathered is 
bitter cold. 

134-138. And question . . . malice. Banquo realizes that there 
is something behind the murder of the king that calls for investiga- 
tion. He feels that the company of nobles is shaken with fears and 
suspicions ; but he puts his trust in God and declares himself the 
foe of whatever secret intention the treason that has slain the king 
may yet have in store. If Banquo suspected Macbeth, this was a 
direct declaration of hostilities ; but he did nothing to make his 
words good, for when next we find him he is the most submissive 
servant of the new king. 

139. manly readiness, the dress, perhaps the armour, that suits a 
man. 

140. Well contented, agreed. When the nobles go out the princes 
remain to consult about their flight. Malcolm seems to distrust all 
the nobles ; Donalbain's words, lines 145, 146, show that he suspects 
Macbeth. The flight of the princes is one of the fortunate acci- 
dents that help Macbeth in the first part of the play. It shifts the 
suspicion upon them and opens the way for his election to the 
throne. 

146. daggers in men's smiles. Donalbain is thinking of the 
smiles with which his father had been welcomed into the castle. 

146. near. This is an old comparative form of the adjective 
" nigh." The phrase may be paraphrased as follows: "The nearer 
a man stands to you in blood relationship, the likelier he is to shed 
your blood." The reference, of course, is to Macbeth, the nearest 
relative of the princes. 

147, 148. This murderous shaft, etc. This murderous plot is not 
yet fully accomplished. So long as the princes lived they stood be- 
tween Macbeth and the throne. 

151, 152. There's warrant, etc. That theft is justifiable which 
steals itself away from a place where it can expect no mercy. This 
is one of the many sententious rhyme tags that abound in Macbeth. 



202 Notes [Act II 



ACT II. SCENE IV 

This scene serves as a link to connect what has gone before with 
the next act. It probably takes place in the late morning of the 
day following the murder of Duncan. The dialogue between Ross 
and the old man renews our feeling of horror at the deed. Mac- 
duff's brief report of the decision of the council of nobles as to the 
agents and instigators of the murder, and of the election of 
Macbeth, puts us in possession of the necessary facts, and his 
refusal to attend the coronation strengthens our feeling that he is 
entering into an attitude of marked opposition to the new king. 

4. Hath trifled former knowings, hath made my former experi- 
ences seem mere trifles. 

5, 6. heavens . . . act . . . stage. These words are drawn from 
the vocabulary of the Elizabethan theatre. The " heavens " were 
the hangings with which the stage was draped. When a tragedy 
was to be performed, these hangings were black. "Act" means 
" performance." 

7. the travelling lamp, the sun. 

8, 9. IsH nighfs . . . entomb. Has night got the better of the 
sun, or is day ashamed to look upon the deed that darkness still 
buries the earth as in a tomb ? 

12. towering in her pride of place, soaring at her highest point 
before swooping on her prey. 

15. minions of their race, the best of their class. 

18. eat, the past tense of the verb. This portent, along with the 
foregoing story of the owl and the falcon, and the prolonged eclipse, 
was taken by Shakespeare direct from Holinshed. He uses them 
to show how nature itself seemed to reflect the murder of Duncan 
in startling and unnatural phenomena. 

21. How goes the world, sir, now? What is the latest news ? 
Ross appears to have been absent from the council of the peers 
held after the close of the preceding scene. Macduff answers him 



Scene IV] Notes 203 

very curtly ; he is evidently deeply dissatisfied with what has been 
done. 

23. Macduff does not believe this ; he is simply giving Ross the 
official, accepted report of the king's death. 

24. What good, etc. What benefit could they intend to derive 
for themselves from the murder ? 

28. Thriftless ambition. Ross is referring to the supposed ambi^ 
tion of the princes which led them to kill their father. It was 
" thriftless," i.e. " wasteful," because it destroyed that by which it 
lived and so defeated its own end. Instead of gaining anything by 
their father's death, the princes have had to fly the land. Note 
that Ross accepts without question the official view of the king's 
death. 

29. A line of four feet. 

31. named. At the council of the peers Macbeth, as the next 
of kin to Duncan in the absence of the princes, was naturally chosen 
king. 

31. Scone, an ancient royal city in Scotland, near the present 
town of Perth. It contained the ancient throne, inclosing the stone 
which Jacob used for his pillow {Genesis, xxviii. 11), on which the 
Scottish kings were crowned. When Edward I overran Scotland 
he took this throne to England, and it is now used in the corona- 
tion of English sovereigns in Westminster Abbey. 

33. Colme-kill, Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland. 
St. Columba, who converted Scotland to Christianity, founded a 
monastery here from which the name in the text was derived. 
Colme-kill means Columba's cell. Owing to the high reputation 
of this monastery for holiness, its precincts became a favourite 
burial place for Scottish kings. Altogether, forty-eight kings are 
said to be buried there. It is interesting to note that the historical 
Macbeth, as well as Duncan, was interred in this cemetery. 

36. Fife, a county on the east coast of Scotland, ruled over by 
Macduff. A ruined castle on the shore of Fife is still called Mac- 
duff's Castle. 



204 ' Notes [Act in 

38. This clause depends upon " adieu " in the preceding line. 
Macduff bids Ross farewell since things may turn out badly for 
them under the new king and they may not meet again. 

40, 41. Gods benison. The old man blesses Ross as a well-mean- 
ing person who will try to make the best of things and reconcile 
adversaries. 

ACT III. SCENE I 

This act is devoted to the second great crime of Macbeth's 
career, the murder of Banquo. The first scene shows us Banquo's 
suspicions of Macbeth, and Macbeth's fears of Banquo. As a result 
of the witches' prediction the two old friends are wholly estranged, 
although outwardly they preserve the forms of a gracious king and 
a loyal subject. Macbeth's dialogue with the murderers at the close 
of the scene informs us of the fate that is hanging over Banquo's 
head. The scene is laid at the palace some time after the corona- 
tion of Macbeth. 

1-10. This speech shows Banquo in a wholly different mood from 
that in which we last saw him. Then he declared that he placed his 
trust in God and stood opposed to all the designs of treason. Now, 
although he strongly suspects Macbeth of the treacherous murder 
of Duncan, he makes no threat of vengeance, but rather broods 
over the prophecy of the witches that his descendants shall reign, 
and hopes that this prophecy too may be made good. In other 
words, he is paltering with evil ; he is not yet ready to take any 
step to hasten the fulfilment of the prediction, but he is content to 
serve the murderer and usurper in the hope that some profit may 
come out of it to him and his house. Perhaps if Banquo had lived 
he would have headed a revolt against Macbeth. This monologue 
of his at least explains and in part justifies Macbeth's fears. 

1. it, the crown. 

4. stand in thy posterity, abide in thy line. 

8. by the verities on thee made good, in accordance with the true 
prophecies fulfilled in thy case. 



Scene I] Notes 205 

11. Sennet, a blast upon the trumpet indicating the approach of 
the king. 

16. to the which, to your commands. The antecedent of " which " 
is understood from the verb " command." 

19. Ride you . . . afternoon. Under the pretense of a friendly 
interest, Macbeth is informing himself of Banquo's plans, so that 
he may know when and where to set the ambush. 

22. grave and prosperous, weighty and- followed by success. 

33. strange invention, fantastic stories. Macbeth perhaps 
alludes to the reports circulated by the princes that it was he 
who murdered Duncan. 

36. Goes Fleance with you? Macbeth asks this question to see 
whether he can cut off father and son at one blow. 

37. our time does call upon's, our engagement demands us. 

42. seven at night, the hour for the formal supper. 

43. welcome, either an adjective or a noun. If the first, "sweeter" 
must be taken as an adverb ; if the second, " society " is the indirect 
object of " make." The first seems somewhat the simpler reading. 

44. God be with you ! Macbeth dismisses his court so as to have 
an opportunity to speak to the men whom he wishes to murder 
Banquo. This line is not an Alexandrine; the phrase "God be 
with you," equivalent to our "good-bye," is pronounced " God b' wi' 
you," so that we have merely the feminine ending. 

48. To be thus . . . safely thus, to be king is nothing unless I 
am secure in that position. This soliloquy of Macbeth's deserves the 
most careful study. It gives us a fine characterization of Banquo, 
and shows what cause Macbeth had to fear him. It shows how 
far from content Macbeth is with the crown that he had won by 
murder, and it reveals the distinct deterioration of Macbeth's 
character. Over his first crime he hesitated and faltered ; possibly 
he would never have committed it except for the influence of his 
wife. But no pity nor remembrance of their old friendship holds 
him back from plotting the treacherous murder of Banquo. It is 
no sooner thought than done. 



2o6 Notes [Act in 

50. royalty of nature, kingly nature. 

51. would be fear 1 d, naturally inspires fear. 

56. Genius, the demon, or presiding spirit, of a man. Shake- 
speare got this story about Mark Antony and Augustus Caesar from 
Plutarch's Lives, which he had read a few years before when 
preparing to write his play, Julius Gesar. In Antony and Cleo- 
patra, written shortly after Macbeth, he makes an augur say to 
the hero : 

Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side : 
Thy demon, that's thy spirit which keeps thee, is 
Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable, 
Where Caesars is not; but, near him, thy angel 
Becomes a fear, as being overpowered. 

— Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 3. 18-22. 

63. an unlineal hand, a hand belonging to some other family 
than Macbeth's. 

64. No son. It seems plain that Shakespeare regarded Macbeth 
as childless ; but not too old to be without the hope of having a 
son to succeed him. 

67. Put rancour . . . peace. Put poisonous drugs into the cup 
from which I drank peace, i.e. his conscience. 

68. mine eternal jezvel, my immortal soul. 

69. the common enemy of man, the devil. 

72. champion me to the utterance, take my part in a mortal duel. 
Macbeth calls upon fate, or death, to enter the lists as his champion 
against Banquo. 

73. l\vo murderers. From what Macbeth says to them, it is 
plain that these men are not common murderers whom he could 
hire to kill any one he pleased. On the contrary, they seem to have 
been soldiers with some claims to promotion which were set aside in 
a way that had deeply offended them. They had thought that 
Macbeth had been responsible for this ; but at his first meeting 
with them, he had succeeded in diverting their suspicions from 



Scene I] Notes 207 

himself to Banquo, and he now proceeds to urge them to revenge 
themselves. 

77. he, Banquo. 

80. passed in probation, which was spent with you in proving ; 
" pass'd " is a participle agreeing with " conference." 

81. borne in hand, deluded with false hopes. 

91. We are men. The murderer's answer is spoken in a grim 
tone, implying that they are still men enough to be eager to revenge 
an injury. This line may be scanned as follows : 

And beggar'd yours for ever ? We are men, my liege. 

95. the valued file, a file, or catalogue, showing the value of the 
different objects contained in it. 

100. particular addition, special distinction. 

100, 1 01. bill That writes them all alike, a list or catalogue which 
puts them all down as " dogs " without specifying their qualities. 
It is interesting to note in this connection that Shakespeare was so 
fond of dogs, horses, and falcons, that he never misses an opportu- 
nity to expand on these topics. 

102. in the file, in the list of values referred to in line 95. 

103. To scan this line " worst " must be pronounced as a dis- 
syllable. 

104. put . . . your bosoms, entrust a charge to you. 

105. Whose execution, the performance of which. 

107. wear our health, possess our health. " Health," of course, 
refers to Macbeth's mental, not his physical well-being. 

108. This line is an Alexandrine. The necessary emphasis on 
" I " forbids any such contraction as occurs in line 91. 

118. my nearest of life, my most vital parts. 

120. bid my will avouch it, bid my royal will warrant it; i.e. give 
no other reason for the execution of Banquo than my royal pleasure. 

122. Whose loves . . . drop, and it is impossible for me to drop 
their friendship. 

122. but wail his fall, but I must lament the fall of him. 



208 Notes [Act in 

123. Who, whom, as often in Shakespeare. 

130. the perfect spy. There has been much discussion over this 
phrase. Some commentators take " spy " in the sense of " knowl- 
edge obtained by spying"; but there is no authority for this. It 
seems better to take "spy" as equivalent to "scout" and para- 
phrase the line: "I will acquaint you with the time by means of 
the best of my scouts." 

133. require a clearness, must be kept clear, must not be 
involved. 

138. Resolve yourselves apart, make up your minds in my 
absence. 

139. An Alexandrine. 



ACT III. SCENE II 

This scene is' particularly important for the view it gives us of 
Lady Macbeth. We see her lamenting that the accomplishment 
of her desire has not brought her content, and this inward unrest, 
stifled in the presence of her husband by her strong will and her 
desire to be of assistance to him, prepares us for the total collapse 
of her mind exhibited in the sleep-walking scene. She has plunged 
into guilt to give her husband his heart's desire, and now she sees 
that the attainment of his desire has brought him no satisfaction. 
It is plain, moreover, that the relation between Macbeth and his wife 
is no longer what it was. He is unconsciously drawing away from 
her ; he conceals from her his plot against the life of Banquo ; at one 
time (lines 30-31), indeed, he even seems to be deceiving her. This 
prepares us for the total separation of the two guilty souls, and for 
the strangely passive way in which Macbeth receives the news of his 
wife's death in the last act. As regards Macbeth, we have in this 
scene stronger testimony than even the preceding has afforded us 
to the guilty anguish of his mind, and to the strong compulsion 
under which he feels himself to step from crime to crime. 



Scene II] Notes 209 

1. Banquo is evidently on Lady Macbeth's mind. She knew of 
the prophecy of the witches that his descendants should be kings, 
and it may be that she, like her husband, is thinking of the possi- 
bility of taking action to prevent the fulfilment of this prediction. 
Her words in line 38 sound as if some such idea were in her mind. 

8. alone. Lady Macbeth knows nothing of her husband's 
interview with the murderers, and fancies that since he dismissed 
the court he has been brooding alone over the murder of Duncan. 

12. Should be without regard, should not be thought of. 

14. She'll close. It was a common belief that a snake, even, 
though mangled, would soon recover ; the wounds would close. 

14. poor malice, weak desire to do harm. 

15. former tooth, former power to bite. " Former" refers to the 
period before the snake was "scorch'd." 

16. the frame of things, the universe. 
16. both the worlds, heaven and earth. 

This line is an Alexandrine with a feminine ending. Scan : 

s" ^ .-» ,■ -" «<* 

But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer. 

18. terrible dreams. Already Macbeth is beginning to realize 
the meaning of the prophetic voice which proclaimed that he should 
sleep no more. 

20. peace . . . peace. The first " peace " refers to the satisfaction 
of his fierce desire for power which Macbeth had hoped to gain by 
killing Duncan ; the second to the peace of death. Such a play on 
words is very characteristic of Shakespeare. See Textual Notes, 

P- 2 57- 

21. on the torture of the mind to lie, as if on the rack. 

22-26. Duncan . . . further. Note the solemn beauty of this 
passage. Macbeth nowhere gives us a clearer vision of his own 
" restless ecstasy " than here where he envies the sound sleep of 
the dead king. 

25. Malice domestic, foreign levy. Macbeth, no doubt, is think- 
ing of the troubles Duncan had in his lifetime, of Macdonwald's 
Macbeth — 14 



aio Notes [Act in 

revolt, and Sweno's invasion. Now, however, the old king is safe 
in death ; nothing can touch him further. 

26, 27. Note how Lady Macbeth rallies to the aid of her hus- 
band. She sees that it is useless to reproach or counsel him, so she 
addresses him in the tenderest tones. He responds at once, but 
soon falls back into his gloomy brooding. 

30. remembrance. This word must be pronounced as if it had 
four syllables, " rememberance." 

This line and the following may be paraphrased as follows : " Do 
not forget Banquo ; distinguish him above his fellow-courtiers both 
by your looks of- favour and by your speeches." It is hard to see 
just why Macbeth should say this. He certainly expected that 
Banquo would be dead before nightfall ; how then could Lady 
Macbeth " present him eminence " ? Either he says this to hide 
from her his plot against Banquo's life, or else he fancies that 
the plot may miscarry, in which case the advice will hold good. 
The former is, perhaps, the better view. 

32, 33. Unsafe . . . streams. This is an obscure passage. It 
has been conjectured that some words have dropped out, but the 
broken line may be due to Macbeth's emotion. The passage may 
be paraphrased as follows : " How unsafe we are so long as we 
must keep on dipping our dignities (as king and queen) in 
streams of flattery." 

38. copy, a technical word, drawn from the vocabulary of the 
law. It is equivalent to " copy-hold," a form of lease common in 
Shakespeare's day. The line means: "Their lease of life is not 
eternal." Lady Macbeth has now fallen so far behind her husband 
that she only hints vaguely at a crime which he has already planned 
to the smallest detail. 

39. There's comfort yet, there is still some comfort in that thought. 
41. cloister' d flight, flight around the cloisters. 

46. seeling. It was a common practice in Shakespeare's day to 
" seel," i.e. to sew up, the eyes of hawks in order to render them 
tame and manageable. So night is pictured here as a falconer 



Scene Hi] Notes 211 

sewing up the eyes of day lest it should struggle against the deed 
that is to be done. 

49. bond, Banquo's lease of life, equivalent to the " copy " of 
line 38. 

52. Professor Dowden says very aptly that this line might serve 
as a motto of the entire tragedy. 

ACT III. SCENE III 

This scene, short as it is, contains the climax of the drama. 
So far everything has been in Macbeth's favour, and, outwardly at 
least, his career has been one unbroken series of successes. The 
escape of Fleance is his first piece of bad luck. From this time on, 
however, everything goes wrong with Macbeth. The various inci- 
dents that contribute to his downfall will be pointed out as they 
occur in the course of the action. It is enough, here, to call the 
attention of the student to the fact that this scene is the turning- 
point of the drama. 

It has been rather foolishly asserted that the Third Murderer who 
appears in this scene is Macbeth himself. Had Shakespeare meant 
this, we may be sure that he would have given the audience a hint 
to that effect. The speeches of Macbeth to the First Murderer in 
the next scene show conclusively, I think, that he was ignorant of 
the details of the assault on Banquo, which would not have been 
the case had he himself been one of the murderers. We may 
perhaps take the Third Murderer to be the " perfect spy " of hi. 
I. 130 whom Macbeth sends at the last moment as a re-enforcement 
to the ambush. 

2. needs not our mistrust, we need not distrust him. The Second 
Murderer says these words to the First, who is evidently suspicious 
of the newcomer. He goes on to say that the third man has re- 
peated Macbeth's instructions as to the time and place of the deed 
exactly as they were given in the first place, " to the direction just," 
which shows that he comes straight from the king. 



212 Notes [Act ill 

8. The subject of our watch, the man we are waiting for. 

9. Give us a light. Banquo says these words to one of his 
servants. He sends them on the winding road with the horses 
while he and Fleance take the straight path through the woods to 
the palace. Fleance carries the torch to light them on their way. 

10. the note of expectation, the list of the expected guests. 

15. stand to^t, get ready. 

16. It will be rain to-night. This remark of Banquo's shows how 
utterly unprepared he is for the treacherous assault. 

17. 18. It is characteristic of the brave and self-possessed Ban- 
quo, that even at this terrible moment he thinks of his son, and 
contrives to get him away in the hope that he may revenge his 
father's death. 

19. WasH not the way? Was not that the right thing to do? 

20, 21. lost Best half of our affair, left the best part of our 
work undone. 

ACT III. SCENE IV 

From every point of view this superb scene is one of the most 
remarkable in the whole play. The poetry rises to the highest 
pitch, and the theatrical effects are overwhelming. But it is, per- 
haps, most noteworthy for the light it casts upon Macbeth's state 
of mind. As, from the point of view of plot construction, the 
last scene marked the climax of the play, so, to the student of 
character, this scene is the turning-point in Macbeth's career. Up 
to this time, with all his hesitation and wild fancies and gloomy 
suspicions, he has had strength of mind and self-control enough to 
push forward to his objects and to hide from public view the bloody 
means by which he has obtained them. In this scene, however, 
we see a fatal collapse of his powers. Confronted by the spectre 
of his murdered victim he loses all self-control, and before the 
assembled nobility breaks out into speeches which must inevitably 
betray his guilt. It is interesting to compare his behaviour immedi- 



Scene IV] Notes 213 

ately after the discovery of the murder of Duncan with his actions in 
the presence of Banquo's ghost. In the former case he retained 
all his presence of mind; his speeches, though perhaps somewhat 
exaggerated, conveyed the impression of wild grief for the king's 
death, and his act of putting the bewildered grooms to instant 
death was, perhaps, the most practical thing that he could have 
done at such a time. In the banquet scene, after one feeble effort 
to play his part, he loses consciousness of the witnesses and speaks 
to the ghost as if they were alone together. Equally noticeable is 
the fact that in this scene he passes altogether beyond his wife's 
control. She had been able to brace him up to the murder of 
Duncan and to control and direct him in the outburst of excitement 
which followed. In this scene, however, she is utterly unable to 
restrain him, and is forced to listen helplessly to the ravings that 
betray his guilty secret. 

In the dialogue between Macbeth and his wife which follows the 
retirement of the guests, we see evident signs of moral degeneration 
as well as of the collapse of his mental powers. His expressed 
determination* to seek out the witches and to wade through a sea 
of blood to obtain his objects shows how far he has fallen from the 
Macbeth who was horrified by the suggestion implied in the 
witches' greeting, and who needed all the powerful influence of his 
wife to nerve him to the murder of Duncan. The mention of 
Macduff and the witches serves also to link this scene to those of 
the next act, and so provides for continuity of action. 

I, 2. at first And last, from the beginning to the end of the feast, 
once for all. 

5. keeps her state, remains in her throne; the "state" meant 
originally the canopy over the chair in which a king sat. 

6. require her welcome, ask her to give us welcome. 

9. encounter thee with their hearts' thanks, meet thy greeting 
with hearty thanks. 

10. Both sides, of the long table at which the guests are sitting. 
Macbeth is playing the part of the genial king who leaves his throne 



214 Notes [Act in 

to mingle with his nobles. He says he will sit down among them, 
but his anxiety to get news of the assault on Banquo keeps him on 
his feet. At this moment he catches sight of the murderer at the 
door, and telling the nobles that in a few moments he'll drink a 
formal toast, a " measure," with them, he turns to the door and con- 
verses in low tones with the assassin. 

14. 'Tis better . . . within. An ungrammatical but very em- 
phatic way of saying, " Banquo's blood is better on your face than 
in his body." 

21. my fit. Macbeth speaks as if he were subject to an inter- 
mittent fever. He had hoped to be wholly cured of it by the death 
of Banquo and Fleance, but with the news of the latter's escape, 
his "fit" of fear attacks him again. 

21. I had else been perfect, I would otherwise, i.e. if Fleance had 
been killed, have been completely well. 

24. cabin" 1 d, cribVd, shut up in a narrow space, as in a cabin, or 
a hovel. 

24, 25. bound in To, confined along with. 

28. a death to nature, a mortal wound. 

29. By Banquo's death Macbeth is, at least, relieved of his pres- 
ent fears. Fleance, although one of the hated house to whom the 
witches have prophesied that the kingdom shall descend, is as yet 
too young to undertake anything against Macbeth. 

32. hear ourselves, talk with each other. 

33. the feast is sold, like a meal at an inn. 

34. 35. That is . . . welcome, of which it is not repeatedly 
affirmed during its progress that it is gladly given. 

35. to feed were best at home, merely to eat a man had better stay 
at home where he can do as he likes. 

36. From thence, away from home. 

36. ceremony is a trisyllable ; and the line is scanned : 

From thence the sauce to meat is cer'mony. 
We must imagine the ghost as sitting, not in the chair of state but 



Scene IV] Notes 215 

at the table in the chair where Macbeth had proposed (line 10) to 
sit. 

40. our country 's honour, the best men in the country. 

42, 43. who may . . . mischance, I hope I may rather be 
obliged to rebuke him as an unkind friend who forgot his engage- 
ment to sup with us, than to pity him for any misfortune which may 
have prevented him from keeping it. This speech is shamelessly 
hypocritical, for Macbeth is secretly rejoicing that his dreaded enemy 
will trouble him no more. All the more overwhelming is the effect 
when he turns and perceives the ghost. 

46. The table's full. Macbeth at first does not realize what has 
happened; he only sees that all the seats at the long table are occu- 
pied. When Lennox calls his attention to the seat reserved for 
him, Macbeth recognizes Banquo's ghost sitting in it. 

49. Which of 'yoti have done this? At the sight of the ghost Mac- 
beth utterly loses his self-command. He makes, however, one vain 
attempt to shake off the overpowering sense of guilt by shifting the 
burden of the crime upon some member of the company. 

53, 54. my lord . . . youth. Note the quick tact with which 
Lady Macbeth comes to her husband's help. Laying the blame 
of Macbeth 's sudden emotion and wild words upon a disorder 
which has afflicted him from his youth, she induces the nobles, who 
are rising excitedly from their places, to sit down again. Then she 
leaves the throne and hurries to Macbeth. Catching his arm, she 
draws him aside and attempts in low whispers to shame him into 
presence of mind by taunting him with cowardice. 

55. upon a thought, in a moment. 

57. You shall offend him, you are bound to make him worse, do 
him harm. 

61. painting of your fear, an image created by your fear, like 
the air-drawn dagger. 

64. Impostors to trtie fear, mere counterfeits when compared to 
those caused by an object truly to be feared. 

66. Authorized, the accent is on the second syllable. 



216 Notes [Act in 

72, 73. our monuments Shall be the maws of kites, our graves shall 
be in the stomachs of carrion crows. Macbeth seems to think that 
if the dead body were torn to pieces by kites, it would be impossible 
for the ghost to rise. 

73. An Alexandrine with the feminine ending. 

76. Ere humane statute . . . weal, before laws passed by men, 
" humane statute," freed the country from anarchy and rendered it 
civilized. " Humane " is the regular spelling for " human " with 
Shakespeare ; " weal " means " the commonwealth," " the nation "; 
" gentle " is used to characterize the nation as it was after the pas- 
sage of the laws. The line is a characteristic example of the compact 
brevity and force of Shakespeare's later style. 

81. twenty mortal murders. Macbeth is thinking of the mur- 
derer's report in line 27. 

83,84. My worthy lord . . . lack you. Lady Macbeth sees that it 
is useless to try to shame Macbeth back to his senses. She returns to 
the throne, and, speaking to him quietly as if nothing had happened, 
calls his attention to the fact that he is neglecting his guests. The 
appeal succeeds in rousing him, and he turns to the company with 
an excuse for his strange behaviour, and proposes a toast. In the 
effort to play his part, however, he overdoes it, drinks to the health 
of Banquo, and expresses the wish that he were present. This piece 
of bravado is promptly and effectively punished by the return of the 
ghost. 

91. we thirst, we are eager to drink. 

92. all to all, all good wishes to all of you. 

92. Our duties, and the pledge, a formula equivalent to "we pay 
our homage to you as king, and drink the health you propose." 

93. Avaunt ! Note the change in Macbeth's tone. He is no 
longer overcome with fear at the sight of the ghost, but rather 
roused to wild anger. Lady Macbeth does not dare to address 
him, but devotes herself to the almost impossible task of in- 
ducing the peers to treat his words and actions as things of no 
importance. 



Scene IV] Notes 217 

101. arni'd, clad in armour. The reference is to the thick hide 
of the rhinoceros. 

101. Hyrcan, Hyrcanian. Hyrcania was a district in central 
Asia supposed to be full of tigers. 

105. If trembling I inhabit then. There has been an immense 
amount of discussion over this passage. If " inhabit " is taken in- 
transitively in the sense of continuing in a certain place, the mean- 
ing of the passage is plain enough. " Come to life again," says 
Macbeth, "and challenge me to a duel. If I remain trembling at 
home, call me a coward." 

106. The baby of a girl, a little girl's doll, or, perhaps, the baby 
of a girlish mother, i.e. a puny infant. 

no. disorder. The word applies to Macbeth's conduct, not to 
any disorder among the nobles. 

1 1 2-1 1 5. You ?nake me . . . cheeks, you make me seem a 
stranger to myself, i.e. forget my natural quality of manhood, 
when I see that such a sight has no effect on you. Macbeth 
is addressing his wife, not the guests, whom he no longer 
notices. 

117. speak not. Lady Macbeth interposes hastily lest Macbeth 
should tell the nobles plainly what it was he saw. She herself has 
not seen the ghost, but from what she knew of her husband and 
his hatred of Banquo, and from the hints he had dropped in the 
afternoon, it was not difficult for her to guess what the vision was 
that had so affected him. 

119. stand not . . . going, do not depart ceremoniously in the 
order of your ranks. 

122. It will have blood. With the departure of the guests Mac- 
beth relapses into melancholy brooding over the consequences of 
his deed. He feels sure that the murder of Banquo will be dis- 
covered and that he will have to pay the penalty. Note that Lady 
Macbeth makes no effort either to reproach or to comfort him; she 
sees plainly that her influence over him is gone. All she can do is 
to try to get him to sleep and forget his thoughts. 



2 1 8 Notes [Act in 

124. understood relations, the secret relations between things, 
understood by diviners and soothsayers. 

126. What is the night? What time of the night is it ? 

127. Almost at odds with morning, so near day that you can 
hardly tell whether it is night or morning. 

128. 129. How say J si thou . . . bidding? What do you say to 
Macduff's refusing to accept our royal invitation to the feast. 

130. by the way, incidentally, i.e. I have not received a direct 
refusal from Macduff, but I know that he will not come. Mac- 
beth explains the source of his information in the following refer- 
ence to the paid spies he keeps in the houses of his nobles. 

133. A very irregular line. Perhaps it can best be scanned : 

And betimes I will, to the weird sisters. 

139. Strange things. Macbeth is perhaps referring to his de- 
signs against Macduff. 

142. My strange and self-abuse, my strange self-deception. 
Macbeth speaks as if he were now convinced that the vision of 
Banquo was only a deception of his senses. 

143. the initiate fear, the fear of the novice. 

144. young in deed, inexperienced in deeds of bloodshed. 



ACT III. SCENE V 

As this scene is now generally considered un-Shakespearean we 
need not dwell upon it. The part of Hecate is wholly omitted 
from some modern representations, and there can be no doubt that 
the play gains in effectiveness by this excision. Were it not for the 
fact that Hecate reappears in iv. 1. we might even in reading simply 
pass over this scene. 

13. Loves for his otvn ends, follows you for his own purposes. 

15. the pit of Acheron. In classical mythology Acheron is one 



Scene VI] Notes 219 

of the rivers of Hades. The " pit " may be taken here as meaning 
some dark ravine, or cave, supposed to lead down to the lower 
world. 

20. I am for th? air, I must fly up. 

27. artificial sprites, spirits called up, made visible, by magic 
art. 

34. my little spirit, my familiar demon. 

35. a song. See Introduction, p. 38. 



ACT III. SCENE VI 

This scene is a counterpart to the closing scene of the second 
act. The dialogue between Ross and the old man in the former 
scene represents public opinion which regards the murder of Dun- 
can as something dreadful and unnatural, but does not in the least 
suspect Macbeth. So in this scene the conversation between Len- 
nox and the unnamed lord shows the attitude of the Scotch nobility 
toward Macbeth. Beginning with bitter irony Lennox finally calls 
Macbeth outright a tyrant; the lord agrees and tells of the at- 
tempt that is being made to raise an army to overthrow him. Both 
of them join in prayers for the speedy success of this attempt, thus 
preparing us for the revolt of the lords in Act V. The change of 
public opinion may be plausibly assigned to Macbeth's behaviour 
at the banquet. When it became known on the following day that 
Banquo had been killed on his way to the palace, no man who had 
heard Macbeth's ravings on the previous night could have any 
doubt as to who had planned the murder. The fact that Macbeth 
took advantage of the flight of Fleance to charge him with the 
murder of his father threw a new light on the accusation that Mal- 
colm and Donalbain had murdered Duncan. Thus Macbeth's 
second crime instead of securing him upon the throne served only 
to reveal his first. 

I. My former speeches . . . thoughts, what I have said has only 



220 Notes [Act III 

been what you have already suspected. We may imagine that this lord 
had been absent from Scotland at the time of the murder of Duncan 
and of Banquo ; and that Lennox has just told him all the details. 

4. marry, by the Virgin Mary. In Shakespeare's time this 
phrase was no longer regarded as an oath ; it had become a mere 
ejaculation. 

4. he was dead, and so Macbeth's pity couldn't help him. The 
implication is that Macbeth did not pity the king till after he had 
killed him. 

8. monstrous, pronounced like a word of three syllables, " mon- 
sterous." 

12. pious rage, rage inspired by his pious loyalty to Duncan. 

15, 16. Lennox here reveals the real reason of Macbeth's murder 
of the grooms. 

18. under his key, in his power. If Macbeth could lay hands 
on the princes he would put them to death on the charge of having 
murdered their father. 

25. the due of birth, the throne due to him as his birthright. 

27. the most pious Edward, Edward the Confessor, the last of the 
old line of Saxon kings of England, famous for his sanctity. 

28, 29. That the malevolence . . . respect, his ill fortune, as 
an exiled prince, in no way diminishes the honour with which he is 
received. 

30. upon his aid, in aid of Malcolm. The phrase depends not 
upon " pray " but on " to wake." 

31. Northumberland, a great district, once an independent king- 
dom, in northern England. It was governed at this time with 
almost kingly powers by Earl Siward, the descendant of a famous 
line of Vikings. 

34, 35. Give to our tables . . . knives. Lennox is thinking of 
Duncan killed in his sleep and Banquo murdered on the way to a 
banquet. " Free," line 35, means " banish." 

36. faithful homage, in contrast with the forced homage which 
the thanes render to Macbeth. 



Scene I] Notes 221 

36. free honours, honours fit for freemen. 

37. this report, the report of this condition of things in Scot- 
land. 

38. their king, the English king, Edward. 

42. Professor Manly says : " ' Hums' 1 is not the word hums, it rep- 
resents an inarticulate sound, well-known, but not easily expressed 
in letters." The messenger did not dare to utter his anger in the 
presence of Macduff, but left him with an inarticulate growl of rage. 

43-45. that well . . . provide, that anger on the part of the 
messenger might warn him to shun the more terrible wrath of 
Macbeth. 

47. His, Macduff's. 

ACT IV. SCENE I 

The interest in this act centres around Macbeth's relation to Mac- 
duff, who has been already pointed out as his sole opponent among 
the Scottish nobles. In the first scene, Macbeth is warned against 
him by name and resolves to put him to death ; in the second, 
assassins, who have come too late to find him in his castle, mas- 
sacre by Macbeth's orders his entire household ; in the third we 
find him in England stirring up Malcolm to war against the tyrant, 
receiving the terrible news of the slaughter of his wife and chil- 
dren, and vowing revenge upon their murderer. We see less of 
Macbeth in this act than in any other, but we see enough to show 
us how, by this time, he has wholly given himself over to evil. The 
difference between the Macbeth whom the witches waylaid and 
the Macbeth who seeks them out has been already pointed out. 
Even more terrible is the difference between the Macbeth who was 
"too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way,'' 
and the Macbeth who orders the massacre of Macduff's wife and 
children. The wanton cruelty of this crime, by which Macbeth 
has absolutely nothing to gain, marks the lowest point of his fall. 
At the close of the act, we join with Macduff in thinking of him 



ill Notes [Act iv 

as "this fiend of Scotland," and look forward eagerly to the 
punishment that is about to be meted out to him. It will be 
shown later on with what art the poet contrives to regain for him 
a certain portion of our sympathy. 

The witches who know that Macbeth is coming to consult them 
are revealed in a cavern preparing their enchantments. We may 
suppose that the caldron with all its horrible ingredients was nec- 
essary to call up the apparitions which the witches mean to show 
Macbeth. The student should note carefully the forms and utter- 
ances of these apparitions, and consider in what way their words 
confirm Macbeth in his evil purposes, and embolden him against 
repentance. 

The speeches of the witches are thrown into the same trochaic 
metre that they have employed on their former appearances. The 
difference between this and the light iambic metre in which 
Hecate speaks, is one of the main reasons for rejecting that char- 
acter as the interpolation of another poet than Shakespeare. 

i. Thrice. Three was a magical number. The triple call of 
the familiar spirit in the form of a cat bids the witches begin their 
work. 

2. hedge-pig. The hedgehog was thought to be an uncanny 
beast. Evil spirits were supposed to assume its shape ; " urchin," 
another name for the hedgehog, denoted in Shakespeare's day, 
not a child as now, but a malicious fairy. 

3. Harpier, a harpy, is probably the familiar of the third witch. 

6. A syllable is wanting in the third foot of this line. The 
strong stress on " cold," and the slight pause after it, fill up the 
rhythm. 

7. has. After " that," which must be in the second person to 
agree with its antecedent "Toad," we should expect "hast," but in 
Elizabethan English a relative pronoun subject was often followed 
by a verb in the third person, even when the antecedent of the pro- 
noun was in the second person. 

8. Sweltered. It was one of the signs of the devilish nature of 



Scene I] Notes 223 

the toad, that it "sweltered," i.e. sweated, even under a cold 
stone, and sweltered poison. 

12. Fillet of a fenny snake, the lungs, or the liver, of a snake of 
the swamp. 

16. blind-worm, a small snake-like lizard, supposed in Shake- 
speare's day to be both blind and poisonous. 

23. mummy, a gum obtained by exposing an embalmed corpse 
to the fire. " Witches' mummy " was probably mummy obtained 
by magical art. 

27. yew. The yew was planted in graveyards, and was con- 
sidered poisonous. 

28. in the moon's eclipse, an unlucky time, and so suitable for 
witches' work. 

30. babe. Witches were supposed to boil the flesh of newborn 
infants to obtain a magical ointment from their fat. 

37. baboon, accented on the first syllable. 

39-43. These verses are in all probability interpolated by the 
author of iii. 5. It is quite out of keeping with Shakespeare's 
conception of the witches to fancy them dancing like " elves and 
fairies." Note the similarity between the metre of these lines and 
that of Hecate's long speech in iii. 5. 

43. a song, " Black Spirits," etc. This song is found complete 
in the incantation scene in Middleton's Witch. See Introduction, 
page 39. 

44. pricking. A sudden itching of the body was supposed to show 
that something important was about to happen. It may here denote 
the instinctive sympathy of the witch with the wicked Macbeth. 

50. conjure, adjure. The accent is on the first syllable. The 
whole speech is very characteristic of the desperate recklessness of 
Macbeth. He is determined to have an answer from the witches, 
no matter what storms their enchantments raise, and no matter 
what destruction of life and property results. 

63. our masters, the evil spirits, whom the witches serve and 
who presently take shape as the three apparitions. 



224 Notes [Act iv 

64. eaten. According to an old Scotch law a sow who ate her 
pigs was to be stoned to death as a monster. 

67. high or low, great spirit or small. 

68. The " armed," i.e. helmeted, head represents Macbeth's own 
head which was destined to be cut off by Macduff. The bloody 
child represents Macduff, who had been ripped from his mother's 
womb. Note the concealed meaning in the witch's statement that 
this apparition is more potent than the first. 

78. Had I . . . hear thee, if I had more ears than I have, I'd 
listen to you with all of them ; a figurative way of saying that 
Macbeth is listening with eager attention. 

83. double, used here as an adverb. 

84. take a bond of fate. " Fate" is probably used here in the 
sense of " Death." Macbeth intends to kill Macduff, and by so 
doing he will obtain a " bond," a sure pledge, from Death that 
Macduff will never harm him. Thus he will be doubly sure, first 
by the prediction just uttered, next by Macduff's death. 

86. sleep in spite of thunder. Macbeth has already complained 
of his restless sleeplessness. It is natural to suppose that a stormy 
night, recalling to him the terrors of the night in which he murdered 
Duncan, would still further heighten his distress. But he thinks that 
if he can get rid of his last fear by killing Macduff, he will be able 
to rest again. 

86. The third apparition represents young Malcolm ; the tree 
represents Birnam wood. 

88, 89. round And top, the crown and highest attainment. 

93. Birnam tuood, a forest twelve miles from Dunsinane. In this 
line " Dunsinane " is accented on the second syllable, elsewhere in 
the play on the first. 

97. Rebellious head, an army of rebels. 

98. our high-placed Macbeth. The phrase seems rather awkward, 
coming from Macbeth himself. Possibly " our " has something of 
the force of the royal " We " in it. " High-placed " is thought by 
Dr. Liddell to refer to Macbeth's situation on Dunsinane hill. 



Scene I] Notes 225 

99. the lease of nature, the allotted span. 

100. mortal custom, the custom of mortality, i.e. death. 

ill. Eight Kings, the eight sovereigns of the Scottish house of 
Stuart, from Robert II to. James VI, inclusive. According to 
Holinshed, this house traced its descent back to Banquo. 

118. Fll see, I wish to see. 

119. a glass, a magic glass by means of which one could foresee 
the future. The eighth king who bears the glass is James VI of 
Scotland, ruling in England as James I when this play was written. 
Shakespeare meant to pay him a compliment by declaring that 
many of his descendants should reign. The present king of Eng- 
land is descended on the mother's side from James I. 

121. balls, the golden orb carried by the monarch at his corona- 
tion. James was twice crowned, once in Scotland, and once in 
England. 

121. treble sceptres, indicating the official title of the English 
monarchs from James I to George III, viz. : " King of Great Britain, 
France, and Ireland." 

122. A syllable is wanting in the third foot. Its place is supplied 
by the pause after Macbeth's ejaculation, " Horrible sight ! " 

124. What, is this so? These words, and the following lines to 
132, inclusive, are almost certainly interpolated. Macbeth has just 
said, " I see 'tis true s " and it is therefore out of keeping for him 
to ask the witches, " is this so ? " The metre of the witch's 
speech is like that of Hecate in iii. 5, and unlike that which 
Shakespeare uses for the witches, and the suggestion of the witch 
that she and her sisters cheer up Macbeth by a dance, is too absurd 
to need discussion. The passage is one of the spectacular inter- 
polations with which the reviser sought to increase the drawing 
power of Macbeth. 

132. Otir duties . . . pay, our dutiful service (shown in the dance) 
gave him a welcome ; an awkward and un-Shakespearean line. 

134. Stand . . . calendar, became a day marked in the cal- 
endar as one of ill omen. 

MACBETH — 15 



226 Notes [Act iv 

135. Enter Lennox. Lennox, we must imagine, had accompanied 
Macbeth on his visit to the witches, but had been left outside the cave. 
There is a distinct significance in the fact that the lord who, in the 
preceding scene, had called Macbeth a tyrant, appears here as his 
confidential companion. In spite of his spies Macbeth did not know 
how his nobles hated him. 

139. damrfd all those that trust the77i. Macbeth does not realize 
that he is pronouncing judgment on himself, for, in spite of the show 
of the kings, he still trusts in the predictions of the witches. 

153. trace him in his line, his relatives. 

155. no more sights. Macbeth has had more than enough of the 
witches and their apparitions. 



ACT IV. SCENE II 

This scene represents the perpetration of Macbeth's third crime. 
It is usually omitted from stage performances since our modern nerves 
would be too greatly shocked by the murder of the child. The 
Elizabethan audience however was far less sensitive, and the actual 
representation of the deed added, of course, immensely to the 
effect of the following scene, where Ross hesitates to disclose the 
dreadful news, and Macduff bursts out in his passion of grief and 
prayer for revenge. 

4. make us traitors, make us seem traitors. She means that 
Macduff was not a traitor to Macbeth, but fear drove him to flight, 
and made him appear a rebel. 

8. He loves us not. At first sight, this accusation seems only too 
true. But Macduff fled to England not so much to save himself, as 
to rescue his country by stirring up Malcolm to attack Macbeth. He 
had, moreover, no reason to fear that Macbeth would butcher his 
wife and children in his absence. 

15. school yourself, blame yourself. Ross tells her to blame her- 
self for doubting her husband's love. 



Scene in] Notes 227 

19. ourselves, each other. The pronoun is used reciprocally as 
in iii. 4. 32. Owing to Macbeth's system of espionage, even the 
good men in his kingdom are being denounced as traitors, and are 
becoming suspicious of each other. 

19. hold rumour. Various explanations have been offered of 
this phrase. Perhaps the best is that which interprets " hold " as 
equivalent to " judge " and makes " from " in the next line equal 
" by." The sense of the passage then is " when we judge by our 
fears whether a rumour is true or not." 

22. Each way, in every direction. 

23. The subject "it" is omitted before "shall." 

27. fatherless, because his father has forsaken him. 

28, 29. / am . . . discomfort. Ross means that he is so soft- 
hearted that if he stayed longer he would burst into tears, and 
thus disgrace himself and trouble Lady Macduff. 

34. lime, birdlime, a sticky substance smeared on twigs to 
catch little birds. 

36. they. The snares mentioned above. The line is to be 

scanned as follows : 

^ S .-» >- ^ 

Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for. 

47. swears and lies, swears allegiance and breaks his oath. 

66. Though . . . perfect, though I am perfectly acquainted with 
your rank. 

70. To fright, in frightening. 

81. unsanctified, without sanctuary, unprotected. 

83. egg, a term of contempt applied to a small person, as here 
to the child. 

ACT IV. SCENE III 

This long scene serves at once to sum up the fourth act and to 
introduce the fifth. It gives us a picture of the wretched state of 
Scotland under Macbeth's tyranny, and by way of contrast shows 



228 Notes [Act iv 

us the blessings conferred upon his people by a virtuous monarch! 
The long dialogue between Malcolm and Macduff with which the 
scene opens is, perhaps, the only tiresome passage of the play. It 
is drawn directly from Holinshed, and it seems as if in this case 
Shakespeare did not have full mastery over his sources. At the 
same time this dialogue gives us a good idea of the prudence and 
virtue of Malcolm who is to succeed Macbeth as king, and, in the 
rugged honesty of Macduff, a picture of the loyal subject as Shake- 
speare conceived him. The episodic account of the " royal touch " 
is introduced, not merely by way of compliment to King James, but 
also to show that God through his earthly representative, the holy 
king, is on the side of Malcolm, as the devil, through his instruments, 
the witches, is pushing on Macbeth. The appearance of Ross at 
the English court shows that even the most time-serving of the 
Scottish nobles are abandoning the tyrant, and the news that he 
brings gives Macduff a personal as well as a public cause of ven- 
geance on Macbeth. 

i. Malcolm, as he frankly confesses later on, is suspicious of 
Macduff and imagines that he has been sent by Macbeth to encour- 
age him to an invasion of Scotland and then to betray him. He there- 
fore feigns a weakness and reluctance to undertake the attempt 
that he does not really feel. 

4. Bestride our down-fall 'tz birthdom, stand over the prostrate 
form of our mother-country, as a soldier would bestride a fallen 
comrade to protect him from the enemy. 

8. syllable of dolour, cry of grief and pain. Heaven is thought 
of as echoing the cries that rise up from Scotland. 

12. whose sole name, the mere utterance of whose name. 

14. He hath not touched you yet. Note the unconscious irony of 
this speech. Of course neither Malcolm nor Macduff knows anything 
of the fate of the latter's family. 

14, 15. 7" am young . . . wisdom, although I am still young, 
you may learn something of Macbeth's nature through my expe- 
rience, and understand that it would be a wise thing. " Wisdom " like 



Scene in] Notes 229 

" something " is the object of " discern," which here has a double 
meaning, first, " learn " ; second, " understand." See Textual Notes, 
page 261. 

18. Scan : 

I am not treacherous. But Macbeth is. 

The stress-reversal in the latter part of the line shows the 
emphasis with which the words are spoken. 

19. 20. A good . . . charge, even a virtuous man may fall, " recoil " 
= give way, degenerate, in the execution of a commission, " charge," 
imposed on him by royal, "imperial," authority. Malcolm plainly 
hints that Macduff's virtuous character may have been so wrought 
upon by Macbeth that it has sunk to a point where it might well 
be suspected of treachery. 

20. shall crave, ought to ask. 

21. thoughts, used here with reference to Malcolm's suspicions of 
Macduff. 

23. would wear, should, were to, wear. 

24. my hopes. Macduff had, of course, expected to be received 
with open arms by Malcolm as a strong ally against Macbeth. He 
is deeply hurt by the prince's suspicions, and speaks out with his 
usual frankness. 

25. even there, in that action which has aroused my doubts. 
Malcolm goes on to say why he distrusts Macduff. He can hardly 
believe that if Macduff really means to fight Macbeth, he would 
have left his family defenceless in Scotland. 

28. An imperfect line. The first half really concludes the 

rhythmical phrase of the two preceding lines. The last half begins 

a new phrase. Scan : 

•* -* •** 

Without leave-taking? I pray you 

29, 30. Let not . . . safeties, let not my suspicions be regarded 
as something dishonourable to you, but as something intended to 
secure my own safety. 



230 Notes [Act IV 

30. rightly just, wholly honourable. 

31. shall think, may think of you. 

33. wear thou thy wrongs, enjoy the benefit of the wrongs you 
have inflicted on your country. The subject of " wear " is " tyranny." 

37. Be not offended. Malcolm sees that he has gone too far. 
He has no wish to drive Macduff away, but he is not wholly satisfied, 
and now puts him to another test. 

42. in my right, in support of my claim. 

43. England, the king of England. This use of the name of 
a country to denote the monarch is very common in Shakespeare. 
Cf. i. 2. 51. 

49. What should lie be? What sort of a person is he, Macbeth's 
successor, to be ? Macduff is naturally slow to believe that Mal- 
colm is referring to himself. 

51. particulars of vice, special forms of vice. 

52. opened, revealed. There is also a reference to the figure im- 
plied in " grafted " of the preceding line. Malcolm means that the 
vices grafted into his nature will some day open in full flower. 

55. my conjineless harms, the unbounded injuries that I shall 
inflict. 

66, 67. Boundless intemperance In nature, absolute lack of self- 
control in a man's character. 

71. a spacious plenty, an ample liberty. 

74. That vulture . . . to devour, such a vulture as to devour. 

76. With this, moreover, in addition to my licentiousness. 

85. Sticks deeper, strikes a deeper root. Cf. iii. I. 50. 

87. The sword of our slain kings, the sword which has slain our 
kings. 

89. Of your mere own, with what is yours alone. There is 
enough that belongs to the king alone in Scotland to satisfy even 
such an avarice as Malcolm attributes to himself. 

90. With other graces weighed, when balanced by other virtues. 
93. perseverance, pronounced " persev'rance." 

96. In the division of, in every shade of. The word " division " 



Scene ill] Notes 23 1 

is taken from the musical vocabulary of Shakespeare's day, and 
denotes a rapid succession of varying notes in the scale. 

97. An Alexandrine. 

104. With an untitled . . . bloody-sceptred, swayed by the bloody 
sceptre of a usurping tyrant. 

106. the truest issue , the true heir. 

107. interdiction, a sort of ecclesiastical injunction, which when 
launched against a king, put him under the curse of the church 
and forbade him to perform his royal duties. Malcolm's con- 
fession of his sinful nature is here compared to such an interdict. 

108. blaspheme his breed, brings scandal upon his ancestry. 
ill. Died every day she lived. Compare 1 Corinthians, xv. 31 : 

" I die daily," where St. Paul speaks of himself as dying to the 
world. 

in. Lived, probably pronounced as a word of two syllables. 

112. The evils . . . thyself, the vices which you have repeatedly 
charged yourself with. 

123. Unspeak . . . detraction, contradict what I have said 
against myself. 

136. the chance of goodness, the successful issue. 

137. silent. Macduff's silence and his hesitating speech when 
Malcolm questions him show how he has been baffled by the 
prince's sudden change of front. Some commentators have even 
suggested that Macduff would at this point have abandoned 
Malcolm, if it had not been for the news Ross brings him. 

138. welcome and unwelcome. The disavowal of the crimes that 
Malcolm had charged himself with was, of course, welcome to 
Macduff ; but the suspicions which had led the prince to act as he 
did were most unwelcome. Altogether the brave, frank warrior is 
completely puzzled. 

143. The great assay of art, the strongest efforts of medical skill. 

146. the evil, scrofula, formerly called the "king's evil," be- 
cause the English kings were supposed to have the power to cure 
it by the laying on of hands. So late as 17 12 Samuel Johnson, 



232 Notes [Act iv 

then a child in his third year, was brought up to London to be 
"touched" by Queen Anne. This gift was supposed to have 
descended to English sovereigns from Edward the Confessor. 
When James ascended the English throne he was, or pretended to 
be, reluctant to exercise this power for fear lest he might be con- 
sidered superstitious. He consented, however, to continue the 
practice of touching, ascribing the cures which followed to the 
efficacy of his prayers. 

160. countryman. Malcolm recognizes a Scotchman by his 
dress, but is not certain who he is. 

163. the means . . . strangers, the cause that makes us 
strangers to each other. Malcolm's delay in recognizing Ross 
is probably to be attributed to his long absence from Scotland. 
This absence is due to Macbeth's usurpation, which he prays God 
to put an end to. 

166. where, in which place, in Scotland. 

169, 170. violent sorrow . . . ecstasy. Ross says that terrible 
outbursts of sorrow are regarded as of no more importance than 
common fits of madness. This seems a strange speech, but it 
reflects the feeling of Shakespeare's day when madness was little 
regarded and even laughed at. 

175. hiss the speaker, for bringing stale news. 

177. children, pronounced " childeren." 

178. The almost careless way in which Macduff asks this ques- 
tion shows how unprepared he is for the news, and makes it harder 
for Ross to tell him. 

1 79. they were well . . . leave them. Ross is reluctant to break 
the news to Macduff, and puts him off with this evasive answer. 
Before he tells him the truth he makes sure that Malcolm is about 
to invade Scotland. 

184. Which was . . . rather, which rumour was the more strongly 
attested to my belief. 

186, time of help, opportunity for military aid. 



Scene I] Notes 233 

ACT V. SCENE I 

The last act brings about the catastrophe of the play. This does 
not consist merely in the death of Macbeth upon the field of battle. 
Shakespeare is always more interested in the tragedy of the soul 
than in external events, and he here employs all his powers to 
paint for us the state of loneliness and hopeless misery to which a 
long succession of crimes has reduced Macbeth. Still clinging 
desperately to the deceitful promises of the witches the tyrant sees 
his subjects fly from him ; he loses the support and companionship 
of his wife, and looks forward to a solitary old age, accompanied 
only by "curses, not loud, but deep." It is not until the very 
close of the act, when he realizes how he has been trapped by the 
juggling fiends, that Macbeth recovers his old heroic self; but he 
dies, sword in hand, as befits the daring soldier that he was before 
he yielded to temptation. 

It is worth noting how in this act Shakespeare contrives to re- 
engage our sympathies for Macbeth. The hero of the play no 
longer appears as a traitor and a murderer, but as a man oppressed 
by every kind of trouble, yet fighting desperately against an irre- 
sistible fate. His bitter remorse for the past and his reckless de- 
fiance of the future alike move us with overwhelming power, and we 
view his tragic end, not with self-righteous approval, but with deep 
and human pity. 

The number of scenes in this act and the frequent changes of 
place have necessitated many alterations for modern stage perform- 
ances. But when the construction is regarded with an eye to the 
simple Elizabethan stage for which Shakespeare composed his work, 
it will be found a masterpiece of dramatic art. It opens with a pro- 
logue which shows us the mental ruin of Lady Macbeth and at the 
same time recalls to our minds the sins for which she and her 
husband are now to receive their just reward. The second scene 
shows us the revolt of the Scotch nobles ; the third, Macbeth's still 
unshaken reliance upon the witches' prediction ; the fourth, the union 



234 Notes [Act v 

of the Scottish nobles with the English forces. In the fifth we see 
Macbeth reduced to the lowest pitch of misery by his forced in- 
action and by the news of his wife's death. The report of the 
moving wood which is brought to him in this scene opens his eyes 
to the "equivocation of the fiend," and the manner in which he re- 
ceives it prepares us for his final outburst of defiance. The sixth 
scene brings the avengers before the walls of Dunsinane. The 
seventh, shows us Macbeth still clinging desperately to his last 
hope, that no man, born of woman, can harm him ; but in the 
eighth even this hope is wrested from him, and he falls by the hand 
of the man he has most deeply wronged. The last scene, for there 
should be another, beginning at line 35 of the eighth scene, shows 
Malcolm in Macbeth's stronghold, " compassed by his kingdom's 
pearl," and points forward to a new era of peace and happiness in 
Scotland. 

At the beginning of this act Lady Macbeth who has apparently 
dropped out of the story is brought back upon the stage that we 
may see how she too pays the penalty of her crimes. The strong 
will that enabled her to defy her woman's nature has broken 
down utterly ; left alone in her castle while Macbeth is in the 
field she broods by day over past crimes and future punishment, 
and at night wanders in uneasy sleep through the halls, betraying 
to all who hear her the deadly secrets of the past. In spite of the 
doctor's statement (lines 65-67), we feel that she is doomed, and we 
are prepared not only for the news of her death in scene v., but 
also for the report in the last scene that she died by her own hands. 
The most tragic part of her punishment is that she, who had sinned 
so deeply for her husband's sake, drifts away from him and dies in 
lonely isolation. 

4. field. We must suppose that at this time Macbeth is in the 
field endeavouring to suppress the revolt of the Scotch nobles, 
alluded to in iv. 3. 182-185. 

12, 13. do the effects of 'watching, perform the acts of waking hours. 

13. slumbery agitation, activity of sleep. 



Scene I] Notes 235 

16. The gentlewoman is afraid lest she should get into trouble 
by repeating Lady Macbeth's words. 

22, 23. her very guise, exactly her habit. 

27. "'tis her command. Note Lady Macbeth's terror of darkness. 
She who had invoked thick night to come and cover her deeds of 
blood dares not now be left alone in the dark. 

29. sense, an old plural form. 

32. accustomed. Note how Shakespeare impresses on us the fact 
that this scene is only one of a number. 

39. Out, damned spot. Lady Macbeth imagines herself trying 
to wash the blood of Duncan from her hands. 

40. to do't, to kill Duncan. She is living over again the night 
of Duncan's murder. She thinks she hears the bell strike two, and 
knows that this is the signal for her husband to enter the king's 
chamber. . 

40. Hell is murky. These words reveal Lady Macbeth's 
brooding fear of the hereafter. They have no connection with the 
sentence that follows, for Macbeth never showed the slightest dread 
of future punishment. 

44,45. old man . . . him. She now fancies herself in Duncan's 
chamber, standing over the bed which streams with the blood of 
the murdered king. 

47, 48. The thane of Fife . . . now. Lady Macbeth had not 
been a party to the murder of Macduff's wife; but this crime of 
her husband's is another of the burdens on her conscience. The 
words in which she mentions Lady Macduff are thrown into the 
form of an old song. Perhaps she had heard the snatch of a 
lament sung for her husband's victims, and is now reproducing it in 
her sleep. 

49, 50. No more o } that . . . starting. She now imagines herself 
back at the feast where Banquo's ghost had appeared. 

57. Arabia, a land famous for its spices and perfumes. 

58. little hand, one of the few allusions in the play to Lady 
Macbeth's personal appearance. 



236 



Notes [Act v 



59, 60. sorely charged, heavy laden. 

65. beyond my practice, outside of my experience. 

68. Wash yotir hands. She now fancies herself speaking to 
her husband directly after the murder of Duncan. In the next 
line she recurs to the scene at the banquet. 

79. Note the change to blank verse. The vivid realism of Lady 
Macbeth's broken utterances would have been impossible in metre, 
and while she spoke in prose her hearers naturally used the same 
form. 

79. Foul whisperings, terrible rumours. The doctor may have 
heard some such talk as that between Lennox and the Lord in 
in. 6. If so his suspicions would be more than confirmed by what 
he has heard Lady Macbeth say. 

79, 80. unnatural deeds . . . troubles, deeds against nature 
(cf. ii. 4. 10, 11) give rise to abnormal evils in the body. 

80. infected minds, guilty souls. 

84. the means of all annoyance, anything by which she could 
harm herself. 

ACT V. SCENE II 

2. His uncle Siward. In Holinshed, Siward appears as the 
father-in-law of Duncan, and so as the grandfather of Malcolm. 

3. Revenges. This use of an abstract noun in the plural is fre- 
quent in Shakespeare when more than one person is affected by 
the quality or feeling denoted by the noun. 

3. their dear causes, causes that affect them nearly. The mean- 
ing of the whole passage is: "the cause they have for revenge 
would rouse even a dead man to the fierce and bloody call to 
arms." 

11. Protest . . . manhood, first proclaim themselves men, i.e. by 
going on a campaign. 

13. lesser, used here as an adverb. 

15-16. buckle . . . rule, control his discontented party. As the 



Scene III] Notes 237 

next speaker shows Macbeth's followers are constantly revolting 
from him. 

17. sticking on his hands, clinging to him. He can no longer 
attribute his murders to others, as he did that of Duncan to the 
princes and that of Banquo to Fleance. 

18. faith-breach, disloyalty to Duncan. 

19. in command, by reason of his command. So "in love " in 
the following lines. 

23. to recoil and start, for breaking down (cf. iv. 3. 19) and 
bursting out in wild fits of passion. 

28. in our country's purge, in the draught which is to purge our 
country. 

30. the sovereign flower. Malcolm, who in line 28 has been spo- 
ken of as the doctor of the sick country, now becomes the "sov- 
ereign flower," which the nobles are ready to bedew with their 
blood. Beneath the usual meaning of " sovereign " lies, perhaps, 
the meaning, common enough in Shakespeare's day, medicinal, 
powerful to heal. 

ACT V. SCENE III 

Macbeth, who has been absent from the stage for some time, re- 
appears in this scene. The student will note at once that he is in a 
different mood from that which characterized him in the earlier 
acts. He is no longer disturbed by "terrible dreams" and seeking 
to lull them by the perpetration of acts of violence. On the con- 
trary, he relies so fully on the witches' prediction that not even the 
revolt of his thanes and the approach of the English army alarm 
him. Nevertheless he is restless, imperious, and gloomy. He has 
obtained all that he sought to win and is confident of the future, 
and yet he knows all happiness has gone out of his life. 

1. reports, of the revolt of his subjects. 

5. all mortal consequences, the future of all men. 

5. vie, the indirect object of " pronounced." The line contains 



238 Notes [Act V 

a feminine ending before the caesura and a trisyllabic fourth foot. 
Scan: 

S- S' ,* ^ s* 

All mortal consequences || have pronounced me thus. 
Or it may, perhaps, be taken as an Alexandrine and scanned : 

All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus. 

8. English epicures. The hardy Scotch despised the luxurious 
manners of their English neighbours. 

11. loon, fool, a characteristically Scottish term of abuse. 

12. goose look, look of foolish fear. 

20. behold. Macbeth interrupts his speech here to call Seyton 
again. Perhaps he would have added some such phrase as " these 
cowards around me." 

20, 21. This push . . . nozu, this struggle, i.e. the approaching 
battle, will give me peace forever, or will at once push me from my 
throne. See Textual Notes, page 262. 

22. zvay of life, course of life, or simply, life. 

30. The unaccented syllable is wanting in the first foot of this 
line. 

47. Throw physic, etc. Macbeth turns impatiently from the 
doctor. If " physic " can do nothing, if the cure for such a sickness 
as Lady Macbeth's lies in the power of the patient only, Macbeth 
scorns the medical art. He, too, has been troubled by " thick- 
coming fancies," but he means to seek relief from them in action, 
not in a doctor's prescription. 

50. Co?ne, sir. Probably addressed to the servant who is buck- 
ling on Macbeth's armour. 

50, 51. cast The water, inspect the urine. This was an Eliza- 
bethan method of diagnosis. 

52. purge . . . health, cure it so that the land would be as 
healthy as before. 

54. PulVt off. Another phrase addressed to the attendant. 
Macbeth's restlessness is shown in the way he orders his armour to 




Scene IV] Notes 239 

be put on in haste, although there is no need of it, and then has it, 
or part of it, perhaps the helmet, taken off again. The phrase, 
" Bring it after me," in line 58, refers to the same piece of armour. 

55. rhubarb, senna. Plants from which purgative medicines are 
obtained. 

61, 62. Were I . . . here. The doctor is thoroughly frightened. 
Between his discovery of Lady Macbeth's terrible secrets and the 
rough contempt with which Macbeth has treated him, his one 
desire is to get out of this dangerous neighbourhood as quickly 
as possible. 



ACT V. SCENE IV 

This scene presents the union of the English forces with the 
Scottish lords near Birnam wood. Malcolm's order to the soldiers 
to cut down boughs in order to conceal the numbers of the army, 
points to the fulfilment of the witches' prophecy. 

2. chambers, private rooms. Malcolm is thinking of the murder 
of Duncan in his bedchamber. 

7. in report of us, in the report carried back concerning us. 

9. keeps still, remains. 

9, 10. endure . . . before^t, stand a siege there. 

11. advantage to be given, where an opportunity, i.e. to desert, 
has to be given them. If Macbeth led his army into the field, he 
would necessarily give the discontented spirits a better chance to 
desert than if he remained in his castle. 

14, 15. Let . . . event, let our true opinion await the actual 
event. Macduff is not so sure that all Macbeth's soldiers are 
ready to desert. His next words show that he thinks the battle 
will demand all their efforts ; " put on industrious soldiership " 
means "play the part of good soldiers." Siward carries on the 
idea in the next speech ; "whatever we may fancy our hopes to be, 
blows alone will settle the matter." 



24O Notes [Act V 

ACT V. SCENE V 

In this scene more perhaps than in any other of the play the 
poet arouses our sympathy for Macbeth. Deserted by his followers, 
forced to await the attack of his enemies instead of meeting them 
" dareful, beard to beard," he is plunged into still greater misery 
by the news of his wife's sudden death. He even seems to con- 
template suicide, when the shock of the messenger's report brings 
him back to himself. He begins at last to realize that the powers 
of evil have been deceiving him, and with a sudden resolution 
to trust henceforth to the strength of his own arm and to die, if 
needs be, with harness on his back, he sallies out to meet the foe. 

It is worth noting how little is said of Lady Macbeth. We hear 
the cry of her women and the brief report of her death, — nothing 
more. Shakespeare wishes at this point to concentrate all our in- 
terest and sympathy on the hero of the drama. It is not the man- 
ner of Lacly Macbeth's death, but the way in which it affects her 
husband that he wishes us to notice. 

14. slaughterous thoughts, thoughts of bloodshed. 

17, 18. She should . . . word, she must have died sometime; 
there must have come a time for such an announcement. This 
speech of Macbeth's does not show callous indifference to his 
wife's death, as some critics have supposed. It rather shows him 
so sunk in misery that he thinks life not worth living. He can 
hardly grieve for his wife's death; sooner or later she must have 
died, and what does it matter whether early or late ? ' The following 
lines continue the same train of thought. 

22. lighted, guided, as a servant with a torch guides his master. 

23. Out . . . brief candle. Dr. Liddell suggests that these 
words show that Macbeth is on the point of killing himself. 

24. a zvalking shadow, a flitting unreality. 
31. .should report, am bound to report to you. 

42. pull in resolution, check my courage. Such, at least, is the 
meaning of the words as they stand. Various emendations have, 



Scene vii] Notes 241 

however, been proposed, of which "pall" i.e. "languish," "grow 
tveak " is the most plausible. 

43. To doubt . . . fiend, to fear that the devil (who inspired the 
tvitches when they uttered their predictions) has been equivocating 
uith me. 

46. arm, and out. In his rage at having been deceived by the 
" fiend," Macbeth abandons his prudent plan of permitting the 
enemy to waste their strength in a vain siege, and sallies out to 
meet them. This act throws away his last chance, for it gives his 
men a chance to desert him (see v. 7. 25) and brings him face to 
face with the man who is destined to slay him. 



ACT V. SCENE VI 

2. show like those you are, appear in your true shapes. 

7. Do zve but find, if we can but meet. 

7. to-night. It seems as if they had planned to assault Dun- 
sinane toward the end of the day. There is a picturesque justice 
in Macbeth's meeting his fate in the gathering gloom of twilight. 



ACT V. SCENE VII 

In spite of the fact that one of the witches' prophecies has be- 
trayed him, Macbeth still holds faith in the other. He is en- 
couraged to greater confidence in this scene by his easy victory 
over young Siward, and this renders the shock of his disillusion in 
the following scene all the more terrible. 

Alarums. This stage direction of the old text represents the 
noise of the battle. 

I, 2. They have tied . . . course. The metaphor is taken from 
the popular Elizabethan pastime of bear-baiting. In this sport a 
bear was tied to a stake and worried by dogs. Macbeth, who finds it 
impossible to escape from the overwhelming force of his enemies, 

MACBETH — 1 6 



242 Notes [Act v 

compares himself to such a baited bear. " Course " in line 2 is the 
•technical word for a " round " in this sport. 

2. What's he, what sort of a man is he ? 

7. Note the omission of the subject-pronoun " which " before " is.'' 

10. Scan : 

.-» --» ^» ^» ^» 

Thou liest, abhorred tyrant ; with my sword. 

18. Either, pronounced as a monosyllable. 

21. one of greatest note, a man of the highest rank. Macduff 
recognizes Macbeth's whereabouts in the battle by the clash of 
arms about him. Elsewhere the fight is a mere pretense, see 
lines 28-29. 

24. gently rendered, tamely surrendered. 

27. The day . . . yours, victory is about to declare itself yours. 

29. strike beside us, do not strike directly at us, but intentionally 
miss us. 

ACT V. SCENE VIII 

There is no scene division here in the old text and there is really 
no need for one. As Malcolm and Siward enter the castle, Mac- 
beth reappears on the field before the walls. 

1. the Roman fool. Macbeth is thinking, no doubt, of some old 
Roman, such as Brutus or Cassius, who killed himself when he saw 
that his cause was lost. 

2. the gashes, the wounds my sword can make. 

4. Of all nieti else, more than any other man. Macbeth has 
avoided Macduff in the fight, not because he fears him, for he still 
believes himself invulnerable, but because he is conscious of his 
own great guilt toward him, and does not wish to add the death of 
Macduff to that of his wife and children. This is another of the 
many little touches by which Shakespeare regains our sympathy 
for Macbeth, so great a criminal, and yet so human. 



Scene viii] Notes 243 

8. Than terms can give thee out, than words can express. 

8. Thou losest labour. We must imagine that Macduff rushes 
furiously upon Macbeth. Confident in his supposed charm the 
latter repels him. There is a moment's pause in the attack, and 
Macbeth, perhaps in the hope of still saving Macduff's life, speaks 
these words. 

12. must not yield, is fated not to yield. 

18. my better part of man, the stronger part of my manhood. 

26. Painted upon a pole, painted on a flag hung from a pole, 
like an advertisement before a circus tent. 

31. thou opposed, thou my adversary. 

There should certainly be another scene indicated between 
lines 34 and 35. Malcolm has entered the castle, see v. 7. 29. He 
is not likely to come out again and wander over the field. Probably 
in Shakespeare's theatre this scene was played on the raised 
platform at the back of the stage which would here represent the 
courtyard of Dunsinane. Malcolm is standing in the usurper's 
stronghold receiving reports of the victory. 

35. Retreat. A technical phrase for a bugle call sounded to 
stop the pursuit. 

36. by these I see, to judge by the number I see present. 

41. prowess, a monosyllable. 

42. In the unshrinking . . . fought, in the position where he 
fought unshrinking. 

44. cause of sorrozv, reason for grief. 

49. wish them . . . death, commend them to a fairer death. 

56. pearl, the word is used collectively, as in our expression, 
" the flower of the kingdom." 

61. reckon . . . loves, settle with, i.e. pay back, the love that 
each one of you has shown. 

63. earls. See Note on i. 2. 45. 

65. Which should be . . . time, which demands to be estab- 
lished anew in accordance with the time. 

71. what needful else, whatever else is necessary. 



244 Notes 

72. the grace of Grace, the favour of God. 

74, 75. "One" and "Scone" rhymed in Shakespeare's day. 
This speech of Malcolm is usually omitted upon the stage, but it 
is a characteristically Shakespearean conclusion. No man ever saw 
deeper into the power and mystery of sin than Shakespeare, but no 
man was ever more confident of the final victory of righteousness, 
and he gives evidence of his faith by closing even his darkest 
tragedies with an outlook upon a better time. So here after the 
downfall of the bloody tyranny of Macbeth, he points us forward to 
the peaceful reign of the gentle, prudent, and devout heir of good 
king Duncan. 



Scene I] Notes 245 



TEXTUAL NOTES 

Macbeth was printed for the first time in the collection of Shakes- 
peare's plays made by his friends, the actors Heming and Con dell, 
and published in 1623. This volume is known as the First Folio, 
and is designated in these notes by the symbol F. Macbeth 
appeared again in the second, third, and fourth Folios, designated 
here by the symbol Ff. 2-4, in 1632, 1663-4, and 1685, respectively. 
The symbol Ff. denotes that all the folios agree on a certain read- 
ing. Unlike Shakespeare's other famous tragedies, Romeo and 
Juliet, Hamlet, Lear, Othello, it did not appear in an independent 
edition before the publication of F., — one of several circumstances 
which go to show that this play was not so popular in its day as 
might be imagined. 

The text of Macbeth, as it stands in the Folio, is very faulty. 
" That it is piteously rent and ragged and clipped and garbled 
in some of its earlier scenes," says Swinburne, "the rough con- 
struction and the polt-foot metre, lame sense, and limping verse 
. . . combine to bear indisputable and intolerable witness." There 
can be little doubt but that Macbeth was revised after Shake- 
speare's retirement from the King's Company by some inferior 
dramatist, probably Middleton, who, perhaps, cut out certain pass- 
ages, and added one scene and a few lines of his own. 

Apart from this the text, even where undoubtedly genuine, pre- 
sents considerable difficulties. It was printed in all probability not 
from Shakespeare's manuscript, but from a transcript, " not copied 
from the original, but written to dictation." x This hypothesis 
accounts for many of the palpable mistakes, particularly for the 
constant errors in the division of lines. It has needed all the 
ingenuity of later commentators to put this matter right, and there 
are still a few places where the correct lining is unsettled. 

1 Clarendon Press, Macbeth, page v. 



246 Notes [Act 1 

In these notes the matter of the division of lines is left un- 
noticed except in one or two places. As I have in general fol- 
lowed the Cambridge editors, I have as a rule accepted their 
division of lines without comment ; only when I disagree with 
them have I noticed this matter. On the other hand, I have 
attempted to note every departure in word or phrase from the 
text of F. and to assign proper credit to the originator of the 
emendation. Changes in punctuation I have only noted when 
they involve some real change in the meaning of the passage. 

ACT I. SCENE I 

I. Ff. have a question mark at the end of this line, as well as 
after line 2. Most modern editors omit the first question mark, thus 
making the witch's question relate simply to the time, and not to 
the circumstances also, of their next meeting. The old text should, 
I think, be retained. 

9-12. In Ff. these lines are assigned to all the witches speaking 
in unison. The change in the text, first proposed by Hunter, has 
been accepted by many modern editors, including Dr. Furness and 
the Cambridge editors in their Globe and Clarendon Press editions. 
In the Cambridge edition they retain the arrangement of the Ff. 
But as the old text, 

Padock calls anon : faire is foule, and foule is faire, 

is certainly wrong in punctuation and division of lines, we may 
well believe it wrong also in its assignment of speeches. The 
arrangement of the text permits each witch to speak three times 
— and three is a magical number — before they all join in the 
final chorus. 

ACT I. SCENE II 

7. Here and throughout the scene Ff. print Cap. (Captain) in- 
stead of Ser. (Sergeant) as the title of the speaker. 



Scene ii] . Notes 247 

13. Gallowglasses. So Ff. 2-4; F. Gallowgrosses. 

14. quarrel. This correction, suggested independently by John- 
son and Warburton for the quarry of Ff. has been generally, 
though not universally, accepted. Quarry, i.e. "a heap of slaugh- 
tered animals" can hardly be wrested to make good sense ; while 
quarrel, i.e. "cause" gives a perfectly plain meaning. Moreover 
the word quarrel occurs in Holinshed's account of Macdonwald's 
rebellion: "There came unto him a great multitude . . . to assist 
him in that rebellious quarrel." The word probably lingered in 
Shakespeare's memory while writing this passage. 

16-20. There is undoubtedly some corruption in this passage. 
Either something has been lost after slave, line 20; or, as Mitford 
conjectured, "Like valour 's minion" line 19, is an alternative read- 
ing for " Disdaining fortune," line 17, which was originally noted 
on the margin of the Ms., and was inserted in the wrong place by 
the printer. This conjecture is, I think, supported by the fact that 
the phrase, "Like valour's minion" is in F. inclosed in brackets. 
No one, however, has ventured to receive this conjecture into the 
text, and to discard " Disdaining fortune" Allowing the old 
text to stand, we should, I think, rearrange the lines. No one can 
read the passage without feeling that the words " carved out . . . 
the slave" were originally one line. "Like valour's minion" is 
more satisfactory as a fragmentary line than " Till he faced the 
slave " which opens with the rare trisyllabic foot, or the even rarer 
initial truncation. 

22. chaps, Reed's correction for chops of Ff. Chaps is the 
usual spelling with Shakespeare. 

26. break. This word is wanting in F. Ff. 2-4 read breaking. 
Pope altered this to break, and his correction has been almost uni- 
versally adopted. Dr. Liddell, however, believes the text of F. to 
be correct. 

38, 39. In Ff. line 38 reads, So they doubly redoubled strokes 
upon the foe. Steevens printed So they as a separate line, in which 
he has been followed by a number of modern editors. The Cam- 



248 Notes [Act 1 

bridge editors in the Globe and Clarendon Press editions print 
so they as the last words of the preceding line ; in the Cambridge 
edition they follow Steevens. But the phrase so they, without 
any pause after it, makes a very unsatisfactory line. Pope omitted 
double which improves the metre, and avoids the awkward tripli- 
cation of the word. This seems to me a very plausible correction. 
The retention of doubly is urged by some editors on the ground 
that the same phrase occurs in Rich. II. i. 3. 80. But in that 
passage redoubled is pronounced like a word of four syllables. 
If Shakespeare had merely repeated the phrase, he would probably 
have repeated the rhythm also. White suspects that some words 
have dropped out after so they. 

45. The first foot of this line is defective. Pope inserted But 
before Who. Mayer {English Metre, page 150) and Conrad {Shakes- 
peare J ahr buck XXXI, metrical table) scan the line 

Who comes here ? The worthy thane of Ross. 

This is most unpleasing, and Mayer himself prefers Pope's emenda- 
tion. I take it that we have in this line one of the few cases of 
initial truncation in Shakespeare. Compare, " What, unjust ! Be 
not so hot ; the duke " — Measure for Measure, v. 1. 135. 

Enter Ross and Angus. So the Ff. Many editors omit Angus, 
inasmuch as he neither speaks nor is spoken to in this scene. But 
this may possibly be due to some omission in the text. In i. 3. 
1 14, Angus does not seem to know just what treason Cawdor was 
guilty of, though it is distinctly stated by Ross in this scene that 
Cawdor had assisted the invaders. But this is just the sort of slip 
that a dramatist writing at full speed might very well make. It 
is hard to account for the presence of Angus in i. 3. unless he 
appears in i. 2. and is there charged by Duncan with the message 
to Macbeth. I have therefore preferred to let the stage direction 
of the Ff. stand. 

$0, 51. I have restored here the line-division of the Ff. Most 



Scene III] Notes 249 

modern editors agree with the Cambridge editors in printing 
Norway himself as part of line 50. But since we must have a 
short line in this passage, it is better to preserve the division of Ff. 
As a rule the short lines in Macbeth mark a pause in the speech, 
such as occurs here after cold. 

56. The punctuation in the text is due to Theobald. The Ff. 
read : 

" Point against Point, rebellious Arme 'gainst Arme." 

Some editors prefer this, but it is better to take rebellious as refer- 
ring to the sword of Norway than to the loyal arm of Macbeth. 
The Cambridge editors point out that rebel and its derivatives are 
used by Shakespeare almost invariably in a bad sense. 

58. I would prefer to consider this line a regular Alexandrine 
with Mayer (page 161), rather than to print, with the Cambridge 
editors, That now as a fragmentary line. 

ACT I. SCENE III 

18. /'//. Most editors follow Pope's suggestion of 7" will for 
the I'll of Ff.; but Pll pronounced almost like a dissyllable prob- 
ably gives us the true rhythm. 

32. weird. Theobald's correction for weyward of the Ff. The 
word does not occur in Shakespeare except in this play, where it is 
spelled weyard and weyward. Shakespeare no doubt got the 
phrase weird sisters from Holinshed where it occurs twice over. 

39. Forres. Ff. have the misprint Soris. 

57. rapt. Pope's correction for the Ff. wrapt. 

68, 69. It has been plausibly suggested that these two lines 
should be spoken by all three witches in chorus ; but there hardly 
seems as good reason here as in i. 1. 9-1 1 for altering the direc- 
tion of the old texts. 

97, 98. The Ff. read : 

Strange Images of death, as thick as Tale 
Can post with post. 



250 Notes [Act 1 

Rowe changed the comma after death to a semicolon, and altered 
Tale to hail, and Can to Came. Most subsequent editors have 
adopted Came for Can, x but there has been much dispute over 
the substitution of hail for Tale, for which, see Dr. Furness's Vari- 
orum Macbeth, pp. 35-36. To me it is an emendalio cerlissima. 
The mistake of Can for Came immediately following shows either 
that the Ms. was illegible, or that the printer was careless at this 
point ; there is no parallel instance of the phrase thick as tale, 
while thick as hail is a commonplace of speech ; and thirdly, it is 
impossible to explain thick as tale without wresting the language. 
Elwin's note that the simile is continued in the phrase pour'd them 
down seems to me to settle the matter. 

117, 118. I prefer to follow, for the sake of clearness, the Globe 
edition in inserting in these lines the stage directions omitted in 
the Cambridge edition. So in line 127, I follow Rowe in insert- 
ing a direction before the line ; and in line 129, another before 
I thank you. 

ACT I. SCENE IV 

1. are, so Ff. 2-4, followed by most modern editors. F. reads 
or. The stress which falls on this syllable makes are the preferable 
reading. 

25. I prefer the punctuation of Dr. Furness, as in the text, to 
that of the Cambridge editors, who omit the commas after are and 
state. F. has commas after throne and state. 

42. I have followed Keightly in inserting a stage direction here. 

ACT I. SCENE V 

24. There has been much debate as to where the speech begun 
by the words, Thus thou must, should end. There are no quota- 
tion marks in the old texts. Pope placed them before Thus and 

'* Dr. Liddell prefers Ran as conjectured by Delius. 



Scene vii] Notes 251 

after undone. Most editors follow his reading, including the Cam- 
bridge editors, except in the Clarendon Press, where they place 
them after it, line 24. This latter arrangement seems to me very 
much the better, since the voice which cries Thus thou must do, 
whether it be the voice of the personified murder or of the .personi- 
fied crown, can hardly be supposed to comment upon Macbeth's 
nature. On the other hand, the remark that he rather fears to do 
the deed, than wishes it left undone, is very appropriate in the 
mouth of Lady Macbeth. 

ACT I. SCENE VI 

4. martlet. Rowe's- correction for Barlet of the Ff. 

5. mansionry. Theobald's correction for mansonry of the Ff. 
9. most. Rowe's correction for must of the Ff. 

ACT I. SCENE VII 

1-2. There has been a good deal of debate over the punctuation 
of these lines. The Ff. read : 

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well, 
It were done quickly : if the assassination. 

Most modern editors omit the comma after the first done and after 
well. It has been proposed to put a period after well, and change 
the colon after quickly to a comma. This makes the first line very 
emphatic, but seems to me to mar the construction of the rest of 
the passage. The context shows that the clause, If the assassina- 
tion . . . success, is the protasis of " IVeUd jump." 

5. The Ff. put a period after end all, which ruins the syntax of 
the passage. 

6. shoal. Theobald's correction for the schoole of Ff. 1-2 (Ff. 3-4 
school). 

The old reading has been defended by taking bank in the sense 



252 Notes [Act 1 

of " bench," i.e. the school-bench. But Shakespeare never uses 
bank in this sense of " bench " ; and the New English Dictionary 
gives no instance where " bank " is used for school-bench. The 
image, in the corrected phrase, of life as a "bank and shoal" in 
the sea of eternity is certainly much finer than in the reading of 
the Ff. 

11. ingredients. Pope's correction for the ingredience of the Ff. 

23. If we were permitted to read " coursers " for couriers in this 
line, the sense would be somewhat plainer. The word " courier " 
occurs nowhere else in the genuine work of Shakespeare. 

28. the other. Various attempts have been made to correct this 
passage, which, after all, needs no correction. The word " side " 
is understood, not spoken, after other, since Macbeth breaks off his 
soliloquy on the entrance of his wife. This accounts, also, for the 
break in the metre. 

47. do. Rowe's correction for the no of the Ff. The only pos- 
sible way in which the old reading can be retained is by assigning 
the words to Lady Macbeth, and this takes the sting out of her 
quick retort, " What beast was't then ? " 

59. fail . . . fail. The Ff. put question marks after both words. 
The Cambridge editors retain the first, and change the second to 
an exclamation mark in their first edition ; in their second they 
also change the first to a colon. This seems to me unsatisfactory. 
Macbeth is meant, I think, to ask a hesitating question : " What 
will become of us if we fail ? " Inasmuch as the old compositors 
often confused question and exclamation marks, we may well adopt 
the exclamation mark proposed after the second " fail," on account 
of the finer shade of dramatic significance that it gives. See note, 
page 189. 

68. lies. The reading of F. lyes was changed as early as F. 2 to 
lye. But Shakespeare, no doubt, used the so-called Northern 
plural as in many other lines. 



Scene II] Notes 253 

ACT II. SCENE I 

13. and. This 'light ending' is in Ff. printed as the first word 
of the following line. It was restored to its proper place by 
Jennens. 

55. strides. Pope's correction for sides of Ff. Dr. Liddell 
reads " slides." 

56. sure. Pope's conjecture for the sowre of F. It was first 
received into the text by Capell, Pope himself preferring sound. 
Dr. Liddell prints sowre, explaining it as "sour," i.e. sullen. 
He suggests, however, that sowre may be a misprint for "sowrd," 
i.e. deaf. 

57. which way they. Rowe's correction for which they may of 
the Ff. 

ACT II. SCENE II 

8. For the stage direction in this line the Ff. have Enter Mac- 
beth. If this is correct we must suppose him to enter the balcony 
above the stage, which would in this scene represent the gallery 
around the courtyard of the castle, and to withdraw after speaking 
the lines. The Ff., however, neither mark his withdrawal nor his 
subsequent entrance to his wife below in line 13. It is therefore 
better to accept Steevens' correction, within, and suppose these 
words to be spoken behind the scenes by Macbeth while returning 
from Duncan's chamber, just before his appearance in the court- 
yard. On the stage, however, I fancy the former reading would 
be much more effective. 

10. Ff. have commas after attempt and deed, but it seems better to 
take the phrase, and not the deed, as logically modifying attempt. 
It is not the attempt, but the unsuccessful attempt which would con- 
found them. This being the case, it seems better to omit both 
commas, as suggested by Hunter and approved by the Cambridge 
editors and Dr. Furness. 



254 Notes [Act II 

16. Did yott not speak? Dr. Furness, following the suggestion of 
Hunter, assigns these words to Macbeth. The passage then reads 
as follows : 

Macbeth. Did you not speak ? 

Lady Macbeth. When ? Now ? 

Macbeth. As I descended. 1 

Lady Macbeth. Ay. 

It seems to me most unfortunate that Dr. Furness should have 
lent the great weight of his authority to the support of this ingen- 
ious, but wholly unnecessary alteration. The passage is not only 
intelligible, but very effective as it stands. Lady Macbeth's ques- 
tion probably relates to Macbeth's ejaculation in line 8. 

27, 28. There has been much dispute over the punctuation of these 
lines. The Cambridge editors retain that of the Ff., i.e. a colon 
after hands and nothing after fear. Dr. Furness prefers CapelPs 
correction, i.e. a comma after hands and a period after fear. This 
gives, perhaps, a somewhat more vivid picture; but the text is 
perfectly intelligible as it stands. 

35, 36. There has been some dispute as to the words uttered by 
the voice here. There are no quotation marks in the Ff. Han- 
mer, the first editor to insert them, included the whole passage 
from sleep (line 35) to feast (line 40). It seems rather absurd to 
suppose that the voice would indulge in such a prolonged eulogy 
of sleep ; and most modern editors terminate the speech of the 
voice with sleep (line 36), taking the remainder as the " comments 
of Macbeth's unstrung mind." 

In lines 42, 43 there is a similar question. Hanmer placed 
quotation marks before Glamis (line 42) and at the close of line 
43. In this he has been followed by the Cambridge editors and 
Dr. Furness. I prefer Dr. Johnson's arrangement as in the text. 
This makes the second speech of the voice practically a repetition 

1 Note that this alteration requires the omission of the question mark 
after this line. No change is made in the revised Variorum, 1903. 



Scene IV] Notes 255 

of the first; and attributes the foreboding of future evil (Catvdor 
shall sleep no more) to Macbeth's own troubled mind. Professor 
Manly in his admirable edition of Macbeth inclines to this view, 
although he has not ventured to modify the text of the Cambridge 
editors. Dr. Liddell retains Hanmer's arrangement. 

63. the green one red. Ff. 1-3 have a comma after one. F. 4 
omits this. Nearly all modern editors follow F. 4. The reading 
of Ff. 1-3 appears to me indefensible, since the reference is not 
to a singular word such as " ocean," which, by the way, Pope sub- 
stituted here for one, but to the plural seas of the preceding line. 

ACT II. SCENE III 

Lines 27-40 inclusive are omitted in this edition. 

61. V th? air. Most editors neglect the elision in the which is 
plainly indicated by F. 

124. I have taken the liberty of inserting a stage direction at 
the close of this line for the sake of bringing the action more 
distinctly before the reader. 

129. Let us. Ff. Let's. I prefer to expand this contraction, 
which may easily have arisen through an actor's error, and read 
Let . . . brewed as one line. Then the following speech of 
Malcolm becomes one line, and Banquo opens his speech with a 
broken line, a not uncommon occurrence in this play (cf. line 86, 
above). This seems to me a more rhythmical arrangement than 
that of the Cambridge editors who print Let's away as a sepa- 
rate line. Mayer (page 155) pronounces this expansion essential 
to the metre. 

ACT II. SCENE IV 

4. Ah. Rowe's correction for the Ha of Ff. Ah denoting pity 
or complaint seems more in harmony with what follows. 

6. Threatens. So the Ff. Most modern editors change it to 
threaten. 



256 



Notes [Act in 



7. travelling. So Ff. 3-4; Ff. 1-2, travailing, another spelling 
of travelling. It has been proposed to keep the reading of Ff. 1-2 
and interpret it of the sun's struggle to dispel the darkness. But 
the epithet travelling is required with lamp to denote the sun. 

28. will. So the Ff. Warburton altered it to wilt, and many 
modern editors have followed him. But it is no part of an editor's 
duty to modernize Shakespeare's grammar. Compare has, iv. 1. 7, 
which some editors change to hast, and some allow to stand. 

29. life's. Pope's correction for the lives of the Ff. 

ACT III. SCENE I 

41, 42. The Ff. put a comma after night and a colon after wel- 
come. The context seems to require the punctuation of the text — 
first suggested by Theobald — since it was Macbeth's absence from 
the company of his nobles which would make his society the more 
welcome at night. 

45. Sirrah. I prefer to print this word as a detached foot, 
thus making a zvord . . . pleasure a regular line. The Cambridge 
editors follow the Ff., printing our pleasure as a fragmentary line. 
Abbott, Shakespearean Grammar, § 512, says our pleasure cannot 
possibly be a detached foot. Mayer (page 149) also prefers the 
arrangement of the text. 

70. seeds. Pope's alteration to seed has been adopted by most 
modern editors. But since seeds may mean " descendants," there is 
no need of changing the text. 

94. clept. Capell's correction for the dipt of Ff. 

106. heart. The Ff. have a semicolon after this word. Pope 
made the necessary correction. 

110. Hath. So the Ff. Most modern editors read Have. 

115. Both Murderers. Dyce's correction for the Murth. of 
the Ff. which some editors interpret as equivalent to " Second 
Murderer." Dyce made a similar correction in line 139 below. 



Scene I] Notes 259 



ACT IV. SCENE I 

2. The Ff. have a comma after thrice. 

7. The Ff. have a colon after one. 

38. Hecate and the other three witches. So the Ff. Many editors 
strike out the words and . . . witches. The Cambridge editors 
change and to to. But it seems probable that Middleton, who 
introduced the character of Hecate, brought in here three other 
witches for the sake of spectacular effect in the dance (line 132). 
The change proposed by the Cambridge editors is objectionable, 
since it makes Hecate a witch, and obscures the alteration in the 
play made by Middleton. 

59. germens. Theobald's correction for germaine of the Ff. 
The word seems to have been coined by Shakespeare, and in the 
parallel passage, Lear hi. 2. 8, — the only other place in which he 
uses it — it appears in the plural. We are justified, I think, in be- 
lieving that here, as elsewhere, the printer has dropped the final s. 

59. all together. Pope's correction for the altogether of the Ff. 

8^. F. has a comma after assurance. 

97. Rebellious head. Theobald's correction for the Rebellious 
dead of the Ff. Most modern editors adopt another conjecture of 
Theobald's, Rebellions head. But Theobald himself preferred the 
reading in the text. It is a slighter alteration of the original, 
and makes as good, if not better, sense. 

98. Our high-placed Macbeth. I agree with Manly that this 
passage, from Szueet bodements to custom, is probably the insertion 
of the reviser. It is singularly weak and ineffective. 

105. The Ff. have a period after know. The Cambridge editors 
alter to a colon. A dash seems better as the speech is interrupted. 

in. The stage direction of the Ff. reads: A shew . . . and 
Banquo last with a glass in his hand. Line 119 shows that this is 
wrong. 

116 and 118. I follow F. in printing question marks instead of. 



160 Notes [Act iv 

exclamation marks, as in most modern texts, after fourth, yet, and 
seventh, in these lines. 

ACT IV. SCENE II 

22. Each way arid move. Many suggestions have been made 
looking to a possible emendation of this passage. Dr. Liddell, 
however, has shown that move in Elizabethan English, means "to 
toss," or reflexively " to toss one's self." This interpretation seems 
to me to remove all obscurity from the passage. 

38-41, 44-64. These passages are in prose. The way in which 
this dialogue between Lady Macduff and her son begins in verse, 
lines 30-37, changes to prose, lines 38-41, goes back to verse, lines 
42-43, and then closes in prose, is, to say the least, peculiar. Com- 
pare the Mamillius scenes in The Winter's Tale, in which Shake- 
speare has managed to convey in blank verse the prattle of a 
child. Dr. Liddell is inclined to reject these prose passages. 

73. Whither. Ff. 1-2 read whether, a common Elizabethan 
spelling of "whither." Thus in iv. 3. 133 F. has whether, when the 
sense demands " whither." In this passage, however, the old text 
might possibly be defended. If Lady Macduff were to fly, she 
would hardly ask whither, since she would naturally seek to join her 
husband in England. But, conscious of innocence and yet alarmed 
for her safety, she might well ask, " Whether shall I fly ? " i.e. " shall 
I fly or not ? " This use of whether to introduce a direct question, 
with an unexpressed alternative, cannot, so far as I am aware, be 
paralleled in Shakespeare, but we have instances of it in Latimer 
and Spenser. See Century Dictionary, sub whether. 

83. shag-hair ) d. Steevens correction for the shagge-ear'd of 
the Ff. Some modern editors, among them the Cambridge editors, 
retain the old reading. But shag-eared is a word which, so far 
as I am aware, occurs nowhere else in the language and is somewhat 
difficult of explanation. Shag-haired, on the contrary, was a com- 
mon term of abuse, and is particularly applicable to the wild High- 



Scene ill] Notes 261 

land cateran (cf. 2 King Henry VI., iii. 1. 367), who appears 
here as the murderer. It is easy to see how the corruption might 
have occurred from the old spelling of heare for hair. 

ACT IV. SCENE III 

4. down-fall' 'n. Malone's correction for the downfall of Ff. The 
participial form fall does, however, occur in English of the 17th 
century. 

15. discern. Theobald's suggestion deserve has been generally 
adopted. But the old text is capable of explanation and should 
I think be retained. See note, p. 228. 

33. In F. and F. 2 this line is printed : 

u 

For goudnesse dare not check thee : wear y thy wrongs. 

U 

Ff. 3-4 expand y to thou in which they have been followed by 
all modern editors. This gives to my ear a very unmusical line, and 
since the sense would be unharmed by the omission of thou, I have 
thought of deleting it. After some hesitation, however, I have 
allowed the text to stand. 

34. affeer'd, Hanmer's correction for F. affear'd. 

72. The Ff. put a period after cold. The punctuation in the text 
was suggested by Theobald. 

107. accursed, so Ff. 2-4; F. accust. Dr. Liddell retains 
accust, calling it an anomalous spelling of " accused " in the 
sense of "revealed." To do so, however, involves the taking of 
interdiction in a. special sense found only in the phraseology of 
Scottish law. It seems better to take accust as a simple misprint 
corrected as early as F. 2. 

168. rend. Rowe's correction for the rent of the Ff. The 
latter form was an Elizabethan variant of rend. 

235. time. So the Ff. Rowe's suggestion of tune has been 
generally received. But time in the sense of "tune," "melody," is 
not infrequent in Elizabethan English. 



262 Notes [Act v 

ACT V. SCENE I 

29. sense are, so the Ff. Many editors prefer D'Avenant's 
correction sense is. " Sense " as a plural form occurs in Sonnet 
cxii, line 10. 

42, 43. The Ff. put the question mark after fear, not after 
account. 

ACT V. SCENE III 

21. cheer . . . disseat. There has been much dispute over 
these words. It has been proposed to read " chair " (in the sense 
of "enthrone") for F. cheer e. But this seems uncalled for, and 
" cheere " for " chair " is an anomalous spelling. Another sugges- 
tion is to follow Ff. 2-4 in changing dis-eate of F. to disease, 
meaning " trouble." This gives a sharper antithesis with cheer, 
and many editors, among them Dr. Furness, favour it. But as Verity 
points out " trouble " is too weak a word for the fate that would 
befall Macbeth in case he were defeated. Dis-seate, meaning 
" unseat," occurs in a scene in the Two Noble Kinsmen (v. 4. 72), 
which evidently is the work of Shakespeare's hand. 

22. zvay of life. Johnson's famous suggestion, May of life, is 
rejected by all modern editors. 

39. The word her after cure omitted by F. is supplied by Ff. 2-4. 

44. stuff d . . . stuff. Many suggestions have been made with 
a view of changing one or the other of these words. But none have 
proved acceptable nor is there any need of change. The repetition 
is thoroughly Shakespearean. 

55. senna, so F. 4. F. has Cyme ; F. 2-3, Cceny. 

ACT V. SCENE IV 

11. Many editors have stumbled over this line and have pro- 
posed to substitute some other word for given. Of these sug- 



Scene VIII] Notes 263 

gestions Johnson's gone is perhaps the most plausible. But there 
is really no need of emendation, since the passage can be ex- 
plained as it stands. The use of is in the sense of " have to " 
is not uncommon in Shakespeare. Compare Merchant of Ven- 
ice, i. 1. 5. 

ACT V. SCENE V 

8 and 15. The stage directions in these lines are wanting in the 
Ff. 

39. shall. So F. Most modern editors read shalt ; but compare 
A. and C. v. 2. 208, where F. reads thou . . . shall. See also ii. 4. 
28. of the present play. 

ACT V. SCENE VII 

22. The word and at the close of this line appears in the Ff. as 
the first word of line 23. The metre, however, is greatly improved 
by its transposition to the close of line 22. This gives us a five-foot 
line with the weak ending in line 22, and in line 23 throws the 
stress on the emphatic words more and not. I would call attention 
to the fact that in a similar passage, ii. 1. 13, and appears in the 
Ff. at the beginning of line 14. 



ACT V. SCENE VIII 

34. The stage direction of the Ff. reads : " Exeunt fighting. 
Alarums. Enter fighting, and Macbeth slaine." This double 
direction is sometimes taken as showing that something has been 
omitted here. 



264 



Notes 



A NOTE ON METRE 



In order to enjoy to the full the poetry of such a play as Mac- 
beth the student should be able to read it rhythmically, and to do 
this demands some knowledge, at least, of the general principles 
of Shakespearean versification. The metre of Macbeth is, as is 
well known, very irregular. This is due, perhaps, in some few 
places to the corrupt state of the text, but more generally to the 
fact that by the time he wrote Macbeth Shakespeare had acquired 
such a mastery of language and metre that he often disregarded 
the rules which earlier poets, and he himself in his earlier works, 
had carefully observed. One often feels in reading Macbeth 
that Shakespeare did not compose the drama line by line, but 
rather in groups of lines, and that so long as each group produced 
the rhythmical effect he sought, it mattered little to him whether 
or not the individual lines conformed to strict metrical rule. At 
the same time it is necessary for us to know these rules, if only to 
appreciate the freedom with which Shakespeare departs from them. 

The simplest division of the drama is into prose and verse. 
There is comparatively little prose in Macbeth. The letter in i. 5 
is naturally in prose ; the porter in ii. 3 talks prose as do most of 
Shakespeare's low comedy characters ; the dialogue between Lady 
Macduff and her son in iv. 2 wavers between verse and prose in 
a rather curious fashion (see note on this passage, page 260) ; 
and finally the sleep-walking scene, v. 1, is for the most part in 
prose. This may be explained by the fact that Shakespeare almost 
without exception puts prose rather than verse into the mouths 
of the insane, and Lady Macbeth's somnambulism is meant by him 
to be regarded as a symptom of her mental disorder. 

The verse of the drama falls naturally into two parts : (a) blank 
verse, that is, unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter ; (b) rhymed 
lines in various metres. 

Blank verse. — The normal blank verse line is an iambic pen- 
tameter, that is, it contains five feet of two syllables each, the second 



Notes 265 



of which is accented; or, to use a more modern terminology, it is a 
sequence of ten alternately unstressed and stressed syllables. We 
may denote this line most simply by placing an accent ( >* ) over 
each stressed syllable, as, 

But get thee back ; my soul is too much charged, (v. 8. 5.) 

To point out the stresses of a line in this way corresponds in the 
study of English metre to the elaborate system of scanning classical 
verse which has sometimes been applied to English poetry. 

It is evident that a prolonged succession of such regular lines 
would be extremely monotonous. This may easily be seen by read- 
ing aloud some of the longer passages in Shakespeare's earlier 
plays, such as the Comedy of Errors, where many of these regular 
lines occur in unbroken succession. In order to avoid such 
monotony Shakespeare soon began to make use of a number of 
variations from the normal line. Some of these from their frequent 
occurrence in Macbeth deserve particular notice. 

Instead of ending with a stressed syllable Shakespeare frequently 
added an unstressed syllable to the line. This so-called feminine 
ending, appears in something over a quarter of the blank verse 
lines of Macbeth : 

,»» y» . y* J* ^ 

To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow, (v. 5. 19.) 

Sometimes two such syllables are added, making what is called 
the triple, or the double feminine, ending. 

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, (i. 3. 139.) 

The Alexandrine or line of six feet resembles the line with the 
double feminine ending in having twelve syllables, but differs from 
it in closing with a stressed syllable. Thus : 

Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should, (iv. 3. 97.) 



166 Notes 

Sometimes an Alexandrine takes on an extra unstressed syllable at 

the close. Thus : 

-» ^» ^ •» ^ ;* 

In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon, (iv. 3. 20.) 

Akin to the feminine ending is the addition of an unstressed 
syllable to the foot preceding the caesura, i.e. the pause in the 
middle of the line. Thus: 

Give me the daggers : the sleeping and the dead. (ii. 2. 53.) 

Occasionally two unstressed syllables are added here. Thus : 

In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave, (iii. 2. 22.) 

On the other hand Shakespeare often dropped an unstressed 
syllable from the line. Thus : 

The curtain'd sleep ; witchcraft celebrates, (ii. 1. 51.) 

Occasionally a stressed syllable is omitted giving us a line of 
four feet : 

And falls on the other. How now ! what news ? (i. 7. 28.) 

We find also lines in which one or more feet are entirely omitted. 
Thus: 

•" * ** *" 

Which else should free have wrought. All's well. (ii. 1. 19.) 

Your favours nor your hate. (i. 3. 61.) 

I'll see it done. (i. 2. 66.) 

Stand to 't. (iii. 3. 15.) 

Of these fragmentary lines it may be remarked that lines of two 
and three feet are by no means uncommon, twenty-nine of the 
first class, and fifty-one of the second, occurring in Macbeth. Lines 
of four feet are rarer, and lines of one foot rarest of all. 



Notes 267 



Another method of varying the normal line is the substitution 
of some other foot for the iamb in one or more places of the line. 
The commonest substitution is that of the trochee, i.e. a foot of 
two syllables with the stress on the first. This substitution is some- 
times called "stress-inversion." As a rule it appears in the first 
foot or after the caesura ; but it may occur in any foot of the line. 
Thus we have it in the first foot, 

y y y y y 

Painted upon a pole, and underwrit. (v. 8. 26.) 
in the second, 

Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends, (iii. 4. 85.) 
in the third, 

His silver skin laced with his golden blood, (ii. 3. 118.) 
in the fourth, 

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs. (i. 3. 136.) 
in the fifth 

y y y y y 

But know not how to do it. Well, say, sir. (v. 5. 32.) 

Occasionally" we find two and very rarely three such inversions in 
one line. 

Sometimes an anapaest, i.e. a foot consisting of two unstressed 
and one stressed syllable, is substituted for an iamb. This sub- 
stitution is often more apparent than real, for many such cases can 
be explained by the contraction of words common in Shakespeare's 
day ; but there are some cases where contraction is impossible. 
Thus we have, 

y y y y y 

When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me. (i. 3. 119.) 

and 

y y y y y 

No teeth for the present. Get thee gone : to-morrow, (iii. 4. 31.) 

In scanning, attention must, of course, be paid to differences of 
pronunciation between the English of Shakespeare's time and our 



268 Notes 

own. Some of the more striking of these have been pointed out 
in the notes. Attention must also be paid to the frequent con- 
traction of two words or two syllables into one. Such contractions 
as " I'll " for " I will," " I've " for " I have" are sometimes indicated 
in the text, but frequently are left to the judgment of the reader. 
An unaccented syllable in the middle of a word is often slurred 
over in scanning ; thus in such a line as 

>» ^ .-» >» >» 

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. (i. 7. 80.) 

the second syllables of " corporal " and " terrible " are barely 
heard, if at all. On the other hand there are a few cases where 
one syllable is expanded into two for the sake of the metre. Thus 
in the line 

Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say't (hi. 1. 103), 

" worst " is practically equivalent to " worest." The same word 
is sometimes pronounced differently in different places according 
to the requirement of the meter. Thus the termination " -ion " is 
pronounced as two syllables in i. 2. 18, but is contracted to one 
in i. 4. 1. Compare also the pronunciations of "remembrance" in 
ii. 3. 67 and iii. 2. 30. No rule can be given for such cases ; the 
reader's ear for rhythm must serve as his guide. 

We must not forget that Shakespeare wrote his verse to be de- 
claimed from the boards of a theatre, not to be puzzled over in a 
schoolroom. Many lines that tax the ingenuity of scholars who 
attempt to fit them into an exact metrical scheme, would flow 
smoothly enough when spoken by a good actor. 

Rhymed Lines. — The rhymed lines in Macbeth may be divided 
into 

(1) Heroic couplets, £.*. iambic pentameter lines, each pair of 
lines rhyming as 

.«• ^» >» >» >• 

Away, and mock the time with fairest show : 

False face must hide what the false heart doth know. 

(i. 7. 81, 82.) 



Notes 269 

Such couplets frequently occur at the end of a scene, where they 
are called rhymed " tags." Out of twenty-eight scenes in Macbeth 
nineteen end with a " tag " of this kind. Heroic couplets, however, 
appear occasionally in the middle of a scene in blank verse. See 
lines 90-101 of iv. I. There are some fifty-four such couplets in 
Macbeth. 

(2) Lyrical passages. The ordinary dialogue of the witches, as 
has been pointed out in the notes is thrown into rhymed verse, con- 
sisting for the most part of trochaic tetrameter, i.e. lines of four 
feet, having two syllables to a foot, with the stress falling on the 
first. Thus : 

^ ^ >» jf 

When shall we three meet again ? (i. r. 1.) 

As a rule the second syllable of the last foot is wanting in this 
metre ; but see i. 3. 14. Occasionally we find iambic lines in the 
speeches of the witches as 

But in a sieve I'll thither sail. (i. 3. 8.) 

In the speeches of Hecate on the other hand (see iii. 5. and iv. I.) 
the rhythm is iambic. There is occasional stress inversion but not 
a single trochaic line. This is one of several arguments against 
the Shakespearean authorship of these passages. The same argu- 
ment would hold against the speech of the First Witch iv. 1. 125- 
132. Here and there in the witches' speeches we have lines that 
exceed the regular number of feet as 

.* ■* s >• ^ ^ ^ 

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger, (i. 3. 7.) 

or fall short of it as 

I' the shipman's card. (i. 3. 17.) 

There are about 120 short rhyming lines in the whole play. 



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